Business magnate Christo Wiese is suing Markus Jooste, the former CEO of retailer Steinhoff, to have the historic Lanzerac wine estate outside Stellenbosch returned to him.

In 2012, notes a Fin24 report, Wiese sold the wine farm, which includes a five-star hotel, to what was described as a ‘foreign consortium’ for an undisclosed sum.

Wiese and five companies he represented in the sale of the estate are now suing Jooste and Lanzerac Estate Investments – the company that bought the estate – in the Western Cape High Court.

According to Wiese in court documents, in 2011 Jooste claimed to be representing a consortium of third-party investors via a company called Morpheus Property Investments, who wanted to buy the farm. Wiese says that while he believed Jooste at the time, it is now clear that the former Steinhoff CEO was ‘negotiating in his personal capacity’.

According to Wiese, he did not know at the time that Jooste had an interest in Morpheus, later renamed Lanzerac Estate Investments.

In addition, Wiese claims that in 2011 and 2012, when negotiations were underway, Jooste was aware Steinhoff's financial statements were false.

In return for Lanzerac wine estate and all its assets, Wiese and the plaintiffs received about 10m Steinhoff shares, with a combined value of around R220m.

The shares have since fallen precipitously in value.

Wiese now wants the contract with Jooste and Morpheus annulled and the historic wine state returned, or alternatively the ‘fair value’ of the assets he sold Morpheus.

Conspicuously absent in the Wiese lawsuit, says Fin24, are references to British businessman Malcolm King, who is the supposed owner of the estate.

Full Fin24 report