Steinhoff to oppose request for liquidation

EMBATTLED Steinhoff International said yesterday it would oppose an application by the former owners of Tekkie Town to liquidate the retailer.

The former owners of Tekkie Town launched an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.

Steinhoff said it “will oppose the application by the Tekkie Town claimants and will vigorously defend any attempt to disrupt the proposed global settlement and the company’s ongoing Dutch (proposed global settlement) and the proper forum of the Dutch courts”.

The global settlement proposal by the Dutch court incorporates provisions to address the disputed claims of the Tekkie Town claimants against the company which relate to transactions between the Tekkie Town claimants and the company in 2016.

In court papers, the former owners of the footwear retailer said that in 2016 they sold shares to the furniture retailer for R3.2 billion. Then they received shares in Steinhoff that crashed when chief executive Markus Jooste resigned amid allegations of accounting fraud.

Tekkie Town’s former owners said Steinhoff was unable to pay its debts; its liabilities exceeded its assets by such a margin that Steinhoff has lost more than 75 percent of its share capital.

According to the court papers, the footwear retailer launched various court cases over the years, saying it was “fraudulently induced” to conclude a contract. The terms of the contract were that they disposed of their interests in Tekkie Town to Steinhoff.

The former Tekkie Town owners said most of Steinhoff’s business was conducted in South Africa, and the country’s liquidators should deal with the liquidation of the company.