Steinhoff investors can hope for higher compensation

Steinhoff investors can hope for higher compensation for their price losses after the near collapse of the South African-German trading group. Steinhoff again screwed the comparison offer upwards by the equivalent of 185 million to 1.43 billion euros. The heavily indebted company wants to settle around 90 claims for damages from investors and creditors in Germany, South Africa and the Netherlands. These add up to more than seven billion euros. In July, Steinhoff was rejected from the plaintiffs with an improved offer. The company has now stated that the Hamilton plaintiff group from Dublin has agreed to the new offer and has withdrawn its participation in a class action lawsuit. Hamilton alone represents 14,000 mostly South African small investors, asset managers and pension funds with claims of more than 14 billion South African rand (800 million euros). The plaintiffs had criticized the unequal treatment of investors who had bought the paper on the market. The prospect of a settlement of the lawsuits caused the Steinhoff share in Frankfurt to soar by 30 percent - to 12.6 cents. Steinhoff had to admit a billion-dollar balance sheet hole at the end of 2017. The Steinhoff share, which is also listed in Frankfurt, then collapsed to a fraction of its value. Since then, Steinhoff has tried to put the business back on a solid footing with a comprehensive restructuring of the balance sheet. Daughters such as the stakes in the "Poco" furniture markets in Germany, the Austrian "Kika" and "Leiner" furniture stores and the French furniture chain "Conforama" were sold. The IPO of the European low-cost chain Pepco in Warsaw brought in 900 million euros.