Businessman and former unionist Ayendra Naidoo has told the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday that the corporation wanted to make further investment in Steinhoff International Holdings because it foresaw commercial benefits.
Naidoo who would have sat on the Steinhoff board would have exerted some influence in favour of the PIC. Naidoo’s company Lancaster 101, received a R9.3 billion funding facility from the PIC to invest in Steinhoff. Naidoo owned 25% of Lancaster, while the PIC owned 50%.
The remaining 25% is allocated to a BBBEE group.
“The PIC saw the benefit of the commercial nature of the proposal and was also keen to access the strategic influence that could arise from the relationship between Lancaster Group and Steinhoff. I was being invited to become a part of a leadership Group and there was more strategic influence that was capable of being associated with this transaction than simply buying a share through the stock exchange on the market in an anonymous way,” explains Naidoo.
Watch Commission of Inquiry below:
