Africa-Press – South-Africa. Steinhoff’s shareholders have voted to dissolve the company and delist it from the Johannesburg and Frankfurt stock exchanges.
Around 99% of shareholders that registered to attend the company’s extraordinary general meeting in Amsterdam backed the debt-ridden retailer’s proposal to delist on Wednesday.
The meeting was poorly attended, with empty chairs facing four Steinhoff board members. There were few questions before the vote.
The decision to delist was largely a foregone conclusion, given that a Dutch court had already certified Steinhoff’s plan to switch from a publicly listed company owned by shareholders to a delisted group under the control of its creditors.
In exchange for delisting and handing over economic control to its creditors, Steinhoff has been granted a three-year debt repayment holiday.
The company leadership has said that had it not made the deal, it would have been forced into a messy liquidation over its €10.2 billion (R200 billion) debt burden.
No date has been announced yet for it to stop trading publicly.
Following the delisting, Steinhoff’s stock will be converted into a type of equity called contingent value rights (CVRs). The group’s creditors will receive 80% of these CVRs. Shareholders will receive the remaining 20%.
It’s still unclear what the CVRs will be worth, or how they will be traded.
The meeting heard that a new and as yet unnamed holding company will take over Steinhoff’s books, records and other data. This company will also maintain the register of CVRs.
* Correction: A previous version of this article said a new company will be created to take control of Steinhoff’s books, records and other data. This company has already been created.
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