Shoprite chairperson Christo Wiese has sold a further R868m worth of the grocery chain’s shares, taking the total he has sold since December 14 to R4.1bn.

A director’s dealing statement issued by Shoprite on Friday said Wiese sold 4.2 million shares at an average price of R206.55 on Thursday.

Over five trading days, Wiese has sold a total of 19.2 million shares, nearly a fifth of the total 101 million he was listed as holding in Shoprite’s 2017 annual report. This has cut Wiese’s holding of Shoprite’s 121 million shares in issue down to 14% from 17%.

On December 15, when Steinhoff International announced Wiese had stepped down as executive chairperson, it also said banks had sold 98.4 million of his shares in the furniture retailer.

In Steinhoff’s 2016 annual report, Wiese was listed as its largest shareholder owning 23.1% of its shares in issue. Wiese was listed as owning 983-million of its then 1.2 billion shares in issue. Steinhoff’s shares in issue have subsequently swelled to 4.3 billion shares. (Business Day SA)