All the companies billionaire Christo Wiese owns

Christo Wiese is one of South Africa’s most successful businessmen, known for his role in the growth of Shoprite and Pep which are two of South Africa’s most valuable retailers.

Christoffel Wiese, known as Christo, was born in Upington in 1941 and went on to matriculate from Paarl Boys High and graduate with an LLB from Stellenbosch University.

After working at the Cape Bar as a lawyer, Wiese joined Pep as a director under Renier van Rooyen. Wiese’s father was one of the first investors in Pep which began in small towns in rural Karoo.

This was the beginning of Wiese’s success in the South African retail sector.

Wiese soon became chairman of Shoprite Holdings. He oversaw its expansion from a group of eight supermarkets into a company that employs over 150,000 workers and has a market value of R132 billion.

Wiese remains the largest individual shareholder in Shoprite with 10.67% and second only to the Government Employees Pension Fund.

His additional deferred shares give Wiese voting rights worth 32.2%.

Wiese also helped grow Pepkor into the dominant player in the discount clothing market.

Pepkor has the largest retail store footprint in Southern Africa, with 5,470 stores operating in 10 countries. It employs 47,000 workers.

Pepkor includes well-known retailers such as Pep, Ackermans, Tekkie Town, and Refinery.

It also owns JD Group, which comprises Incredible Connection, HiFi Corp, Everyshop, Russels, Bradlows, and Rochester.

Wiese was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Awards in 2015.

Wiese used to own close to 44% of Pepkor prior to Steinhoff’s purchase of it. After the collapse of Steinhoff, Wiese received a cash payment and 5% of Pepkor in exchange for dropping his court cases against Steinhoff.

The collapse of Steinhoff saw Wiese lose nearly $4 billion and with it his status as a dollar billionaire.

Wiese reclaimed the famed dollar billionaire status in 2022, after the Steinhoff settlement and good performance from some of his other investments.

Brait, an investment holding company, is another of Wiese’s investments and owns brands such as Virgin Active, New Look, and Premier Foods.

Brait, at the behest of Wiese, is currently in the process of listing Premier as a separate business on the JSE.

Alongside his other investments, Wiese owns 37.57% of Invicta Holdings and 11.9% of TradeHold. Wiese is chairman of both Invicta and TradeHold.

Famously, Wiese owned Lanzerac Wine Estate in Stellenbosch from 1991 until 2012 when he sold it to a foreign investment firm with links to Markus Jooste.

Wiese revitalized Lanzerac and built its luxury hotel.

Value of Christo Wiese’s holdings

Company	Market Cap	Wiese’s Shareholding	Value of Wiese’s share
Invicta Holdings	R3.5 billion	37.57%	R1.3 billion
Pepkor Holdings	R68.24 billion	5.42%	R3.7 billion
Shoprite Holdings	R132.76 billion	10.67%	R14.2 billion
Brait PLC	R5.11 billion	28.24%	R1.4 billion
TradeHold	R1.94 billion	11.9%	R231 million

Invicta Holdings

Pepkor Holdings

Shoprite Holdings

Brait PLC

TradeHold

The companies Christo Wiese owns

Company	Effective Interest	Brands
Invicta Holdings	37.57%
		Replacement Parts Auto-Agri
		Replacement Parts Industrial
		Replacement Parts Equipment
		Capital Equipment
		Kian Ann Group
Pepkor Holdings	5.42%
		Pep
		Pep Africa
		Ackermans
		Tekkie Town
		Russells
		Bradlows
		Rochester
		HiFi Corporation
		Timber City
		Tiletoria
		Capfin
		Flash
		Incredible Connection
		Avenida
		Sleepmasters
		S.P.C.C
		ShoeCity
		Refinery
		Dunns
Shoprite	10.67%
		Shoprite
		Usave
		Checkers
		Checkers Food Services
		Checkers Hyper
		OK Foods
		OK Furniture
		Petshop
		Littleme
		Transpharm
		Medirite
		House & Home
		Presidents Hyper
		Shoprite Next Capital
		Freshmark
		Computicket
Brait PLC	28.24%
		Virgin Active
		New Look
		Premier Foods
TradeHold	11.9%
		Collins Group
		Moorgath Property Group (UK)