South Africa Probes Seven Accounts for Steinhoff Insider Trading

South Africa’s financial regulator is investigating seven trading accounts that sold Steinhoff International Holdings NV shares in the weeks leading up to the global retailer’s disclosure of accounting irregularities and subsequent share-price collapse a year ago.

The accounts belong to individuals, trusts and corporate entities and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority is looking for evidence of insider trading, it said in a statement Dec. 7. The probe is close to completion.

The news comes after Bloomberg reported that former Steinhoff Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste advised friends via a mobile-phone text message to sell the retailer’s shares days before the ...