South African company, Steinhoff International has had its hostile takeover bid rejected by Poundland.

In a statement realised on Friday, Steinhoff said: “The Board of Poundland has not accepted our proposal regarding a possible cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Poundland.”

This may not be the last offer from Steinhoff, owner of Bensons for Beds and Harvey’s, as it considers its position with a further announcement at a later stage.

Steinhoff has made previous bids for Argos, going head-to-head with supermarket giants Sainsbury’s. However the South African group eventually pulled out and the supermarket signed a £1.4 billion deal to buy the chain.
Figures show that Steinhoff is worth about £1.6 billion and Poundland is worth a little over £500 million.

As present, Poundland operate around 600 stores across the UK, Ireland and Spain and it is looking to open 16 new stores a year for the next two years in the UK and Ireland.