Louis van der Watt
Louis van der Watt is the founder and CEO of Atterbury Property, South Africa’s largest private property developer. He built the group over 33 years on a model of acquiring land, developing strategically, and reinvesting all capital rather than distributing dividends — a strategy that has generated significant long-run asset value but zero income for external shareholders across the entire RMH Holdings investment period (2016–2026). His public position on minority shareholder pressure has been unambiguous: when RMH pushed for asset disposals and distributions, van der Watt stated “I am not changing my strategy because they changed theirs,” and removed RMH’s board representative Brian Roberts from the Atterbury Property Holdings board citing “strategic misalignment.”
Van der Watt’s approach to the AttBid Proprietary Limited transaction reflects an effective buy-back of his own shareholder register. He first acquired Coronation Fund Managers’ 28.35% block in RMH at approximately R0.47 per share (October 2025), establishing the bilateral reference price that the TRP (Takeover Regulation Panel)‘s mandatory offer regulations would subsequently lock in as the minimum offer price. Three weeks later RMH issued a trading statement disclosing a 36% NAV impairment on the Atterbury stake — reducing the carrying value from R770 million to approximately R498 million. The cautionary announcement followed. By the time the formal mandatory offer launched in February 2026, the process had converted a hostile listed minority into a transaction that — if completed — replaces RMH Holdings shareholders with Faan and Dirk van der Walt as a friendly passive capital partner who has no APH board seat, no information rights, and no disclosed exit mechanism.
The Fledge Capital relationship with the van der Walt brothers predates this deal by more than a decade: Fledge Capital held 31.5% of WeBuyCars before its 2024 JSE listing, and Atterbury built the brothers’ physical retail showroom infrastructure. This pre-existing commercial relationship is the basis for the passive-capital trust the AttBid structure requires. Post-delisting, van der Watt retains absolute informational and operational advantage: no SENS disclosure obligations, no independent valuation requirement, no JSE AGM accountability. Every material decision about the Atterbury Property Holdings portfolio — development timelines, asset disposals, capital recycling, dividend policy — remains within his sole control. The group’s Atterbury-aligned director confirmed at the March 2026 RMH AGM that “given future capex requirements, funds would unlikely be available to pay dividends in the future.”
Ontology Louis van der Watt [relates] Atterbury Property Louis van der Watt [relates] Atterbury Property Holdings Louis van der Watt [relates] Fledge Capital Louis van der Watt [opposes] RMH Holdings Louis van der Watt [relates] WeBuyCars
Connections
- Atterbury Property — founder and CEO; controls all investment strategy
- Atterbury Property Holdings — top-level private vehicle; controls APH board
- AttBid Proprietary Limited — via APF; architect of the buy-back structure
- Fledge Capital — personal/family vehicle; held 31.5% of WeBuyCars pre-listing
- Faan and Dirk van der Walt — passive commercial partners of decade-long standing
- Brian Roberts — RMH-appointed director van der Watt had removed from APH board
- RMH Holdings — hostile minority whose exit is the goal of this transaction