Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa February 2016 | Page 13

MASTER INVESTOR
Wiese acquired Shoprite – another key member of
his portfolio - for R1m in 1979. Under his leadership,
Shoprite started out as a chain of eight supermarkets
in Cape Town that was purchased for 1 million Rand
(equivalent to $122,000 USD), which eventually
expanded into the multi-billion dollar business status
it enjoys today thanks to various acquisitions and
innovative expansion strategies, made in the first 30
years of operations.
The Shoprite chain has since grown into an African
behemoth. It was one of the first South African groups
to see the potential growth across the continent and
today boasts a presence across 15 countries with more
than 2,000 stores. It had sales of about R102bn last year.
Dr Wiese remains Shoprite’s chairman and its single
largest shareholder with a 15 per cent stake in the group.
After playing a role in helping Shoprite acquire
distributor Sentra, Wiese started expanding his
business into franchising new locations for Shoprite
department stores. He also purchased the strug