Coronation slashes stake in Spar to 0.17%

Coronation Asset Management, once one of the top five shareholders of the Spar Group, has sold its stake in the wholesaler, reducing its holding from 5.06% to 0.17%. The announcement was made by the Spar Group in a Sens statement on Thursday morning.

In Spar’s latest 2025 annual report, the Government Employees Pension Fund was the largest shareholder at 18.663%, followed by Allan Gray at 8.53%, then M&G Investments at 6.60%, and AlexForbes at 5.81%, with Coronation Asset Management the fifth largest shareholder.

Spar’s share price is down about 80% over the past five years.

Spar share price

Spar, a wholesaler that sells to independent retailers, has been in conflict with the Spar Guild, which represents the retailers, this year, over its executive leadership and board structure.

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The guild had been asking for executives and board members with more retail experience to turn around the ailing group. However, on Wednesday, both the guild and Spar said they were committed to working together and rebuilding trust in a project they have named “renewal”.

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Spar chair and deputy resign with immediate effect

Chair Mike Bosman and deputy chairperson Shirley Zinn left on 17 August, citing conflict with the guild. The guild is now backing former Nampak CEO Phil Roux for the chairperson position, it emerged in a letter sent to interim chairperson Lwazi Koyana, on 10 September.

Spar’s troubles predate current leadership

Spar’s troubles began long before the current leadership. It exited Poland in 2024, paying R2.67 billion to do so, and exited Switzerland in 2025 with a cash payment of R683 million covering debt extinguishment and a competition fine.

Spar’s 2023 SAP software rollout at its KwaZulu-Natal distribution centre was unsuccessful and led to roughly R720 million in lost profit.

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Now Spar Group wants to sell its Switzerland business

Spar’s convenience store model is now under threat from on-demand delivery services such as Checkers Sixty60.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Peresec Prime Brokers, a prime broker and OTC derivatives provider, increased its stake in Spar to 6.254% of Spar’s total issued ordinary share capital, up from the previous 0.27% held by it.

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Peresec Prime Brokers ups stake in battered Spar
Spar to reboot 2U to fend off Sixty60 threat

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