Rui will take on the role of Dis-Chem’s CEO following the retirement of Ivan Saltzman.
Dis-Chem CFO Rui Morais has been approved by the nomination committee as successor to current CEO Ivan Saltzman, who will retire following the publication of the group’s results.
Rui has been the CFO of Dis-Chem Pharmacies since August 2012. He won the Young CFO of the Year Award at the 2018 CFO Awards for his role as the CFO of Dis-Chem. Prior to becoming CFO, he served as group financial executive for 18 months.
Before joining Dis-Chem, he held various senior managerial roles in the audit sector at EY, with Dis-Chem included in his portfolio.
Ivan, along with co-founder Lyn Saltzman, has begun reducing his majority shareholding in the pharmaceutical retailer. According to the group, they sold 64.5 million shares (7.5 percent of the company) in one day and raised R1.96 billion.
The family will also divest a further 32 million shares (3.75 percent of the company) to a “select number of key senior executives who are central to the delivery of the company’s strategic priorities”. Rui, who will take over from Ivan following concerns from shareholders and investors regarding succession planning, is included in this divestment strategy.
The group has also announced a third transaction, where Ivan and Lyn plan to sell a further 86.5 million shares (10.05 percent of the company) to a consortium of BEE investors, that is still subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions.
Once all three transactions are complete, the Saltzman family shareholding will be reduced from 52.67 percent of the business to 31.4 percent.
