(Bloomberg) -- Steinhoff International Holdings NV plunged by a record 62 percent after Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste quit in the wake of irregularities in the company's accounts that require further investigation.
Shares in the furniture and clothing retailer fell as low as 17.56 rand before paring losses to trade 61 percent lower at 18 rand as of 9:10 a.m. in Johannesburg. That wiped 117 billion rand ($8.65 billion) off the value of the stock to give it a market capitalization of 76.2 billion rand, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The owner of France-based Conforama and Pep in Africa has appointed auditor PwC to probe the matter, it said on Tuesday. South African billionaire and chairman of the company, Christo Wiese, will run the company on a temporary basis.
The retailer, which has origins in South Africa, has a base in Amsterdam and a primary listing in Frankfurt, said Monday it wasn't able to release audited full-year financial results on Wednesday due to matters related to a criminal and tax investigation in Germany. It had previously rejected allegations of dishonesty made in Manager-Magazin. That report said Jooste is among employees being investigated by German prosecutors in a 2015 case linked to possible accounting fraud.
To contact the reporter on this story: Renee Bonorchis in Johannesburg at rbonorchis@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Vernon Wessels
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