ALMOST E270M EXPOSED TO STEINHOFF FRAUD

MBABANE – The country’s civil servants had around E270 million of their pension money  invested into troubled Steinhoff International exposed to the latter’s fraud scandal.

As reported by this publication last week, the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) has about E13.5 billion held by five South Africa-based fund managers who have all been affected by the Steinhoff fraud scandal.

Although the amount that PSPF stood to lose from the scandal that has seen Steinhoff’s share price fall dramatically in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange was not disclosed then, it has now been revealed that it involved millions of shares.

PSPF Director Corporate Services Elkan Makhanya said as of November 30, 2017: “We held a total of 4 631 08 Steinhoff shares.”
However, he said as at the end of December 13, 2017, “PSPF held 3 890 751 shares as a result of normal trading by the fund managers”.
“The Steinhoff shares account for less than two per cent of the Foreign Asset Portfolio.

The share price changes from day to day as reported by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the fund managers trade the shares as they see fit,” Makhanya said.
When calculating the shareholding of two per cent of PSPF’s Foreign Asset Portfolio of around E13.5 billion, this means that almost E270 million was invested into Steinhoff International.

With the Steinhoff share price reportedly hitting an all time low of E4 – a drop by 91 per cent since accounting irregularities and fraud allegations hit the company – this translates to the 3 890 751 shares being worth only around E15.5 million from a previous value of around E172.7 million. This would mean that PSPF has already lost around E157 million as a result of the Steinhoff scandal.

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