Billionaire brothers behind WeBuyCars involved in R655 million property deal

WeBuyCars co-founders and co-CEOs Faan and Dirk van der Walt are majority shareholders of the property company AttBid, which has reached a deal to buy JSE-listed RMH. 

This has raised speculation that the co-founders’ recent sale of R866.4 million worth of shares in WeBuyCars on 2 February 2026 was to give them the cash to help finance the purchase of RMH. 

However, WeBuyCars have dismissed this speculation, saying that the two events are unrelated.

“Faan and Dirk have been invested in Atterbury-related assets for many years, and this opportunity was committed to long before the recent sale of shares was executed. The timing of the sale of sales and this announcement are unrelated,” CEO Faan van der Walt said in response to queries from Daily Investor.

Together, the Van der Walt brothers hold a 51% stake in AttBid, split equally between the brothers. The other 49% is held by Atterbury Property Fund. 

On 9 February 2026, RMH informed shareholders that it had entered into an implementation agreement with AttBid. 

This agreement includes an offer from AttBid to buy all the issued ordinary shares in RMH, other than those currently held by Atterbury. The offer being made is a cash consideration of R0.47 per ordinary share in RMH. 

As a result, the transaction values the company at R654.68 million. This is not much of a premium on the current value of RMH, which sits at R640.75 million. 

This sale comes after RMH’s years-long process to shift its strategy from being a strategic shareholder to becoming an investment holding company focused on monetising its underlying property-related investments. 

The process began with the decision, in 2019, to unbundle RMH’s shareholding in FirstRand. This was completed in 2020 and marked the end of an era for the company, which was formed out of the Rand Merchant Bank stable. 

RMH said that over the past five years, the board and management team have continuously assessed options to monetise either the RMH Property Holdings portfolio as a whole or the property assets individually. 

Most notably, the company was looking to dispose of its 38.5% stake in Atterbury Property Holdings. To date, no compelling offers have been made for the company. Based on this, the company said AttBid is the most natural acquirer of RMH Property. 

Furthermore, the acquisition gives RMH shareholders the option of realising immediate and certain value at the prevailing market price, the company said. 

It explained that this must be considered against the ongoing operational costs of running a listed company, as well as any potential future capital requirements from Atterbury, which may cumulatively lead to significant future value erosion. 

This provides some indication of the reasons why Attbid is not paying a significant premium for RMH. 

Having considered all relevant quantitative and qualitative factors, the RMH board concluded that the acquisition is aligned with RMH’s monetisation strategy to realise value for shareholders. 

Sale of WeBuyCars shares

The company buying RMH, AttBid, has been created specifically for the purpose of purchasing the JSE-listed company. 

Atterbury Property Fund holds a 49% stake in the company, with the other 51% split between I Faan Proprietary Limited and I Dirk Proprietary Limited. 

However, this does not mean the WeBuyCars co-founders will have a majority stake in the company following the acquisition, with AttBid only buying those shares not already held by Atterbury.

RMH explained that, should the acquisition go through, AttBid will hold 71.65% of the company, and the remaining 28.35% will be held directly by Atterbury. Thus, the brothers will hold around 36.54% of the company following the acquisition.

This deal comes after the WeBuyCars co-founders sold R866.4 million worth of shares in the company on 2 February 2025.

In the announcement of the transaction on the JSE, the company said this transaction forms part of their personal investment diversification and estate planning. 

“As part of their personal investment diversification and estate planning, Mr ASS van der Walt and Mr DJF van der Walt, who are executive directors of the company, have disposed of shares in the Company owned by I VDW Holdings Proprietary Limited,” WeBuyCars said in a statement.

I VDW Holdings is an associate company jointly and indirectly owned by the Van der Walt brothers.

“The proceeds of the disposal will primarily be applied towards family-related obligations and personal investments,” the company said. 

“The disposal formed part of a considered process of portfolio management, rebalancing, and diversification.”

The company mentioned that this process is partly due to WeBuyCars’ share price performance over an extended period, which had resulted in the brothers’ shareholding representing a disproportionately large portion of their personal wealth.

“Following the dealings set out herein, the directors and their associates continue to collectively hold 5.81% of the total issued share capital of the company, which remains a large portion of their respective investment portfolios,” WeBuyCars said. 

The company’s statement said the brothers do not intend to sell any further shares in WeBuyCars in the near future.

“The directors remain fully committed to the company and will continue in their executive roles with an ongoing focus on delivering sustainable growth and long-term value for all shareholders,” the company said.

Prior to the dealings disclosed below, the brothers had not disposed of any shares in the company, held directly or indirectly by them, since the listing in April 2024.