It’s time for the family to step back, says Gareth Ackerman

Gareth Ackerman will vacate the chair of Pick n Pay Group as part of a vigorous shake-up of the struggling retailer’s governance and shareholder structure. As part of this, the Ackerman family will step back from control of the business while still taking up a rights offer announced in February.

Ackerman, the group’s long-standing chair and son of the retail giant’s founder, Raymond Ackerman, told Business Day that the company “needs a total refresh” and that his departure as chair was the first step in a whole-business change that would sweep through to the board and management…