After almost six decades, the Ackerman family, which founded Pick n Pay, will be giving up control of the struggling retailer as part of a revamp.
Pick n Pay confirmed on Monday that Ackerman Investment Holdings (AIH) will relinquish its majority stake in the business following a rights offer.
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‘AIH and its related and inter-related persons (the Ackerman family) agreed to forego majority shareholder voting control of Pick n Pay, with the exact mechanism still to be finalised, such that their voting rights will fall slightly below 50% post the planned Rights Offer,’ the group said in a statement.
The statement added that the group will forego the right to nominate the chairman, CEO, and CFO immediately.
Following 40 years of service, of which 14 were spent as chairman, Gareth Ackerman will be retiring from his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors. He has also stepped down from the Nominations and Treasury Committees with immediate effect
The statement confirmed that Ackerman will step down from his position after the release of FY25 results next year but will remain on the board alongside siblings Suzanne and Jonathan Ackerman.
Suzanne will remain as Chairperson of the Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee and will retire from the Nominations Committee with immediate effect.
Over the next 12 to 18 months, the board will be rotating or retiring long-serving non-executive directors, added the statement.
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Commenting on the situation, Gareth Ackerman expressed that he has been wanting to retire as board Chair for some time now and that AIH’s move ‘is a strong vote of confidence by the Ackerman Family in the future of Pick n Pay’.
He added that the structural changes are intended to support the business in its transformation under new leadership.
‘The Ackerman family has for some time been considering the changing operating environment and the need for renewal at Pick n Pay, including at the board level,’ said Ackerman.
‘To quote a favourite expression of my father, “We need to listen to the whispers of tomorrow”. The difficulty the business has found itself in recently has proved an opportune moment to accelerate the renewal process,’ he added.
‘This is a challenging, but at the same time, very exciting time in our history. This is the right decision by the family and by me.’
Pick n Pay grew quickly to become the country’s biggest retailer after the late Raymond Ackerman, who died in September last year, purchased the first four Pick n Pay stores in Cape Town in 1967, reported News24.
But in recent years, its fortunes declined and it has seen a number of CEO changes as Shoprite became the domineering force in the market.
New CEO Sean Summers, who has just unveiled a new board-approved six-point restoration strategy, has been tasked with reviving the business to profitability.
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Also on Monday, the struggling retailer reported a grim set of results for the year to end-February.
The group’s trading profit declined by more than 87%, with its Pick n Pay stores suffering a R1.5 billion trading loss. Its low-cost brand Boxer, however, posted R1.9 billion in trading profit.
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