SA Reserve Bank gives Steinhoff green light to send cash abroad for global settlement

Steinhoff International’s share price soared to a high of 14 percent in morning trade after it said that the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) had given it permission to send money abroad in a cross-border transfer for use in its global settlement deal. Picture: Henk Kruger/African News Agency(ANA)

Steinhoff International’s share price soared to a high of 14 percent in morning trade after it said that the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) had given it permission to send money abroad in a cross-border transfer for use in its global settlement deal. Picture: Henk Kruger/African News Agency(ANA)

Published Oct 19, 2021

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STEINHOFF International’s share price soared to a high of 14 percent in morning trade after it said that the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) had given it permission to send money abroad in a cross-border transfer for use in its global settlement deal.

The share opened the day at R2.32, hitting a high of R2.65.

“Steinhoff is pleased to announce that it has received approval from SARB/FinSurv for the cross-border transfers contemplated by the revised Steinhoff global settlement proposal. The approval is valid until May 31, 2022,“ it said.

Steinhoff, the majority owner of Pepkor in Africa and Pepco in Europe, proposed a global settlement that will see it paying out R25 billion.

SARB’s reporting branch, known as Financial Surveillance (FinSurv), is responsible for determining the rules which dictate whether and how each transaction must be reported, the responsibility for gathering relevant information and implementing those rules currently resides with South Africa’s banks.

Louis du Preez, the chief executive said: “The Finsurv approval satisfies one of the remaining conditions to implementation of the global litigation settlement. The final material requirement is the approval of the high court in South Africa to the SIHPL section 155 proposal. Given the overwhelming claimant support in favour of the settlement proposal, we are committed to implementing it as soon as possible.”

The company has a primary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the JSE.

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