Steinhoff says it has reached an agreement of up to €78.1m (R1.37bn) with some of its former directors and its insurers, as it battles to settle lawsuits that threaten its survival, according to a Business Day report.

The agreement with some of its former directors comes after Steinhoff announced in February it had reached an agreement with former auditor Deloitte.

The deal, however, does not include former CEO Markus Jooste or former CFO Ben la Grange, who may still be the subject of claims from the group.

Steinhoff uncovered a €6.5bn (about R110bn) hole in its accounts in 2017, causing a share collapse and multiple lawsuits from former business partners and aggrieved shareholders, including former chair Christo Wiese.

Deloitte has offered as much as €77.94m to settle with those who relied on dodgy numbers to trade Steinhoff shares, as well as to other claimants.

Steinhoff has offered €370m in the settlement, but is in the process of completing processes relating to companies in financial distress in the Netherlands and SA.

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The arrangement is ‘in exchange for certain waivers and releases’, notes a Moneyweb report.

The waivers and releases are intended to ensure shareholders would not pursue their rights to take legal action against the directors. A senior lawyer reportedly told Moneyweb it is unclear whether SA law allows directors to be released in the manner proposed by Steinhoff.

In none of the statements does Steinhoff explain why it has done a U-turn on its original proposal and now intends to release both Christo Wiese and Dirk Schreiber from the list of individuals who could be sued for their alleged role in the collapse of Steinhoff.

Section 2.83.2 of the original settlement proposal published last year refers to ‘released parties’ and defines them as ‘… all directors, officers and other personnel of the Steinhoff Group companies who work or have in one way or another worked for or been associated with a Steinhoff Group company, excluding the excluded individuals and Christoffel Hendrik Wiese …’

The ‘excluded individuals’ at that stage were Markus Jooste, Ben la Grange, Stéhan Grobler, Siegmar Schmidt and Schreiber.

The proposal to release Schreiber is particularly puzzling given that he was very publicly named during a parliamentary hearing in March 2019. During that hearing Steinhoff CEO Louis du Preez told MPs that eight people had been named in the PwC report into fraud at the company.

Du Preez initially refused to disclose the names but after taking legal advice, provided the list of names.

That list included Schreiber.

A Steinhoff spokesperson reportedly told Moneyweb that Wiese had been included in the ‘release’ list of directors because he had agreed to the settlement proposal.

In addition, according to the spokesperson: ‘Schreiber has been included because he has been co-operating with the company, and he has acceded to the (settlement) agreement.’

Full Moneyweb report