Pepkor CEO Pieter Erasmus sells $33M in shares as retail giant hits 6,000 stores

South African executive Pieter Erasmus, chief executive officer and executive director of Pepkor Holdings since October 2022, sold shares worth R531.3 million ($33.3 million) in the retail group this month. The sale, executed over three days, involved 20 million shares at prices ranging from R26.1 ($1.63) to R27.27 ($1.71) per share. The shares were sold by Vista Treasury, an associate of Erasmus, as part of its “periodic process to rebalance its investment portfolio.”

These shares trace back to complex transactions tied to the Steinhoff (now Ibex) global settlement in 2022. Vista Treasury previously held 60 million shares in Pepkor. In the 2024 financial year, Vista subscribed for 12 Class A ordinary shares in an entity called Ainsley for R120 million ($7.53 million). Ainsley provided security to Vista under the subscription agreement, and Vista later exercised its rights under this agreement to acquire 60 million Pepkor shares from Ainsley in early April 2025.

Erasmus owns 2.4 million share rights

Ainsley subsequently challenged Vista’s position in court, but the parties reached a settlement in August 2025. Vista returned the shares to Ainsley and then reacquired them at R27.1 ($1.7) per share, representing 1.6 percent of Pepkor’s current shares in issue. These shares are not held directly by Erasmus. Separately, Vista restructured its holdings through Business Venture Investments No. 1499 (BVI), paying R482.4 million ($30.3 million) for an 88.28 percent stake, settled by transferring 20 million Pepkor shares to BVI.

Another Erasmus associate, Trevo Capital, held call options to purchase 120 million Pepkor shares at R24.92 ($1.56) per share. These options, disclosed before Erasmus joined the board, were cancelled in the 2024 financial year after the share price remained below R20 ($1.25). Following recent transactions, Vista’s indirect Pepkor stake is 40 million shares, valued at R1.05 billion ($65.9 million) at the current share price of R26.17 ($1.64). Erasmus also holds 2.416 million share rights through the group’s long-term incentive plan.

Retail expansion surpasses 6,000 stores

Erasmus’s career spans decades in finance and retail. After completing his articles at Coopers Theron Du Toit (now PwC) in 1990, he worked at Hewlett Packard and the Remgro group before joining PEP as financial director in 1998. He became group managing director of Pepkor Limited in 2001, serving 16 years, and later held non-executive roles until his appointment as CEO on October 1, 2022.

Under Erasmus’s leadership, Pepkor has posted strong results. For the year ended Sept. 30, 2025, revenue rose 12 percent to R95.3 billion ($5.97 billion), while operating profit increased 13.2 percent to R11.1 billion ($696.5 million). Normalised headline earnings per share grew 23.4 percent to R1.61 ($0.1), reflecting market share gains in retail and strong performance in the FinTech segment. The group also expanded its store network by 4.1 percent, surpassing 6,000 locations, highlighting a balance of strategic growth and operational execution.