JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Directors in South Africa's Steinhoff International (J:SHFJ) bought shares in the company shortly before its $5.7 billion purchase of clothing retailer Pepkor, regulatory filings show.
Steinhoff International said on Tuesday it will buy a 92 percent stake in clothing retailer Pepkor worth $5.7 billion from private equity firm Brait (J:BATJ) and entities controlled by Christo Wiese, who is also a Steinhoff director.
Filings from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) show that directors, including Wiese, CEO Markus Jooste and founder Bruno Steinhoff, bought shares in the company in September worth millions of dollars without disclosing that a deal was imminent.
Steinhoff was not immediately available to comment. Wiese told the Sunday Times newspaper that he purchased the shares after Steinhoff's results were released and was "relaxed" about the timing.
He said Steinhoff's board was advised that it was "not necessary" to issue a cautionary on the JSE.
Under JSE rules, directors cannot trade in the shares of their company when "there exists any matter that constitutes unpublished price-sensitive information."
The JSE's senior technical advisor Peter Redman said the stock exchange would conduct a routine investigation.
"We do this as a standard practice, every time there is an announcement, we look to see who traded."
Worth nearly $13 billion, Steinhoff currently sells beds and cupboards to lower-income shoppers in Europe, southern Africa and Asia.
Pepkor, which operates across 16 countries, targets South Africa's lowest income bracket, such as impoverished township mothers shopping for school uniforms for their children.
The deal, the third largest acquisition of a South African company, saw Steinhoff's share price rise by 4.2 percent.
(1 US dollar = 11.0760 South African rand)
(Reporting by Peroshni Govender; Editing by Michael Urquhart)