A while back we wrote about how Tekkie Town was trying to reverse their R3,2 billion acquisition by Steinhoff, “on the basis that what Steinhoff was representing at that time was false”.

At the time, Warren Erfmann, previously a non-executive director of Tekkie Town, was clearly not a fan of the buyout, and neither was Braam van Huysteen, one of the founders of the shoe retail giants.

He was even quoted as saying:

“We started this business in Mossel Bay in 1989 and brick-by-brick we built it up over the last few decades. People entrusted us to look after the business – our employees and our shareholders – and we were confident at the time that we did the Steinhoff deal that it would be the right home for us. But the last few months have proven this to be otherwise.”

A few things have changed since then – one is that Business Insider SA cites the acquisition price as R3,1 billion, and Braam van Huysteen seems rather pally with Markus Jooste.

Van Huysteen described his relationship with Jooste on The Money Show on Wednesday, and here are the pertinent exchanges:

Is he angry with Jooste?

“No,” he says.

No?

“No.” It’s not for him to judge, argues Van Huysteen.

He still sees Jooste from time to time – one of few people to admit publicly to doing so.

“He’s said I can ask him whatever I want, but that’s up to the court,” he says philosophically.

Is Markus Jooste a crook? Certainly that is how his detractors like to portray him, and his admission of “mistakes” was tantamount to a confession.

“No, not to me,” comes the steady reply.

How does he not want to punch his erstwhile bestie in the mouth?

It’s not his place to judge Markus Jooste, he says.

I’ll do the judging – Jooste is a doos, and he has ducked completely off the radar after throwing so many others under the bus.

Some of the ins and outs of the deal before we part ways:

Steinhoff bought Tekkie Town, a discount retailer of shoes that other shops struggle to sell at full-price, in a R3.1 billion deal two years ago.

Van Huysteen and the management of Tekkie Town came to Jooste’s attention after a lucrative private equity deal with Actis elevated the status of the company. For Jooste, the opportunity lay in growing Tekkie Town in Eastern Europe, in the same way Pep exploded into Eastern Europe…

Actis, which owned 42% of Tekkie Town, took Steinhoff’s cash and ran. Van Huysteen and his management team agreed to take Steinhoff shares and remain locked in for three years. If it was good enough for billionaire Christo Wiese who was chairperson of Steinhoff and in his mid-70’s was seeking to consolidate his empire, thought Van Huysteen, it was good enough for him.

Wiese is now suing Steinhoff for R59 billion, claiming he was duped by Jooste.

“It’s monopoly money now,” says Van Huysteen of his share in Steinhoff. He is frantically seeking to unscramble the egg and to get his company back.

If I sold my company for shares in Steinhoff, I would also be trying to unscramble that egg.

I would also want to sock Jooste in the mouth.

[source:businsider]