One of South Africa’s richest men gives his sons R3.4 billion each

Ivan Saltzman, who founded Dis-Chem with his wife Lynette Saltzman in 1978, gave two of his sons over R3.4 billion in shares each.

Ivan and Lynette Saltzman have three sons, Saul, Mark, and Dan. Saul is an executive director at the company.

On Friday, 20 June 2025, Dis-Chem announced that Ivan Saltzman was restructuring his interest in the Dis-Chem share portfolio held through Ivlyn Local Investment Holdings.

This restructuring involves distributing 217 million Dis-Chem shares. All distributed shares will remain within the Saltzman family, thereby continuing current family ownership.

Ivlyn Local Investment Holdings held 29.31% of the total number of Dis-Chem securities in issue. After the transaction, it was reduced to 4.06%.

The shares were given to Ivan’s sons, Dan Saltzman and Mark Saltzman, who individually now own a beneficial interest in the company of 12.62%.

The transaction, which took place on Friday, 20 June 2025, was worth R6.803 billion based on Dis-Chem’s closing price on 19 June 2025.

Last year, Ivan Saltzman sold R1.43 billion worth of the company’s shares to Coronation, while his son, Saul Saltzman, sold R88 million.

This transaction in February 2024 saw Ivlyn Local Investment Holdings reduce its stake in Dis-Chem from 35.12% to 29.31%.

Coronation Asset Management acquired the 5.8% Ivlyn stake, taking its beneficial interest in Dis-Chem to 29.83%.

Dis-Chem is one of South Africa’s leading pharmaceutical retailers and has grown rapidly over the years.

Apart from its Dis-Chem retail outlets, it also owns Dis-Chem Baby City, which it bought in 2021, and CJ Distribution, the group’s wholesale division.

• Dis-Chem is the premier pharmaceutical retail brand in South Africa, renowned for its diverse product range and competitive pricing.

• Dis-Chem Baby City offers a range of products catering to expecting, new, and experienced mothers in the realm of mother and baby essentials.

• CJ Distribution, part of the Group’s wholesale division, operates nationally with warehouses in Longmeadow, Midrand, KwaZulu-Natal, Delmas and the Western Cape.

At the end of the last financial year, Dis-Chem had a footprint of 285 retail pharmacy stores and 45 retail baby stores.

For the 12 months ended 28 February 2025, Dis-Chem Group revenue increased by 8.0% to R39.2 billion.