Steinhoff investors are still facing the impending total loss. The price of the retail holding company, which was badly shaken by a billion dollar balance sheet scandal, has recently leveled off at just under three cents. Last week, Steinhoff indefinitely postponed its annual general meeting, which was particularly important this time.
As reported (see articles at the end of the article), Steinhoff has made a somewhat unusual proposal to its shareholders – to put it mildly: give the Steinhoff creditors 80 percent and all voting rights and you will receive new shares in a Steinhoff successor who is not is listed. In return, Steinhoff is once again given a postponement in repaying its 10 billion euro liabilities. Interest rates remain in the double digits. So the creditors want to grab a large part of the company without really getting involved in Steinhoff’s restructuring. As reported, this has also attracted investor protection groups.
The proposal was originally scheduled to be voted on at the Annual General Meeting on March 16. However, the details are not yet publicly available. Instead, at the end of last week, Steinhoff indefinitely postponed the annual general meeting and a circular to its investors in order to obtain “certain official confirmations”. What is behind it? Unknown. Steinhoff only comforts investors by saying that everything should be done “as quickly as possible”.
For a while it looked like Steinhoff might actually manage to muddle through somehow. In fact, Steinhoff will probably continue to exist in the future – the only question is what investors will get out of it. Because now, of all times, the creditors are starting to push shareholders out of the company. The associated ambiguities include, among other things, why the Steinhoff management is communicating a proposal from the creditors in which it is not evident that the interests of the investors are being adequately taken into account. The following still applies to the Steinhoff share: Particularly high risk of total loss!
