Pepkor
Pepkor is a South African investment and holding company, focused on the discount and value consumer retail, and fintech markets.
While the majority of its operations are in South Africa, the company also operates in other African countries and Brazil. It manages retail brands that sell predominantly clothing, footwear, and homeware, in addition to household furniture, appliances, consumer electronics, and building materials.
Its retail brands include PEP, Ackermans, Shoe City, Dunns, Tekkie Town, Refinery, S.P.C.C, CODE, Bradlows, Rochester, Sleepmasters, Incredible Connection, HiFi Corp, and BUCO. Its fintech operations provide financial and telecommunications services to customers in the formal and informal markets. Its Flash business supports 200,000 small-business traders in the informal market. Pepkor's internally developed PAXI parcel delivery service leverages its expansive retail store footprint.
History
The company was founded in 1956 by Renier van Rooyen. He opened his first chain store, the start of PEP Reef, in 1978. Formerly known as PEP stores, the company was renamed Pepkor Limited in 1982, with PEP stores becoming a subsidiary.In 1998, Pepkor acquired Australian retailer Best & Less.
In 2011, the private equity company Brait bought a 24.6% stake in Pepkor for R4.18 billion, valuing the company at about R17 billion.
In 2012, Pepkor purchased the Australian department store chain Harris Scarfe from investment company Momentum Capital.
In November 2014, Steinhoff International acquired Pepkor for.
Pepkor was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in September 2017.
Pepkor expanded into selling affordable mobile phones and sells 12 million cellular handsets annually.
In February 2022, Pepkor acquired a majority stake in Brazilian retailer Grupo Avenida, marking the company's first foray into Latin America.