Billionaire WeBuyCars brothers’ R655 million property deal

The co-founders of WeBuyCars, Faan and Dirk van der Walt, are involved in a R655 million deal to buy JSE-listed RMH.

Over the past few months, the two brothers, through AttBid and alongside Atterbury Property Fund, have steadily been buying up shares in RMH on the open market.

These transactions form part of a complex deal in which Atterbury Property will essentially buy itself back. The relationship between RMH, also known as RMB Holdings, and Atterbury dates back more than a decade.

In May and June 2016, RMH, which had traditionally been an investment holding company known for its stake in the banking giant FirstRand, launched a new diversification strategy.

This strategy focused on unlisted, entrepreneur-led property development companies, which is how RMH ended up acquiring a 27.5% stake in Atterbury Property Holdings.

At the time, Atterbury was led by one of its co-founders, Louis van der Watt. The deal with RMH saw Atterbury gain access to capital, which was used to fund large-scale developments. 

At the same time, RMH established Atterbury as its primary development partner in commercial, retail, and industrial real estate.

Since 2016, RMH has expanded its property footprint in partnership with Atterbury. It has also taken stakes in Atterbury Europe, Divercity, and Integer Projects.

However, in 2019 and 2020, RMH underwent a major change by unbundling its large stake in FirstRand.

This saw RMH pivot to a pure-play property investment company, with its core strategy shifting to asset monetisation and the return of capital to shareholders.

As part of this strategic pivot, RMH was looking to dispose of its then-38.5% stake in Atterbury. However, to date, no compelling offers have been made for the company. 

How the Van der Walts became involved

In 2025, a company called AttBid was formed. It is a special-purpose vehicle created to buy out RMH.

AttBid was created as a joint investment consortium between Atterbury Property Fund and private equity partners, the Van der Walt brothers.

Atterbury Property Fund owns 49% of AttBid, while the Van der Walts own the remaining 51% through their personal investment entities.

In February 2026, AttBid made its intention to buy RMH known. It issued a joint firm intention announcement with RMH.

AttBid made an offer to acquire all of RMH’s issued ordinary shares, excluding those already held by Atterbury Property Fund and its treasury shares.

The offer is for cash consideration of R0.47 per ordinary share in RMH. This values RMH at R654.68 million.

Since then, AttBid has continued to acquire additional RMH shares in the open market, which also triggered a mandatory offer under South Africa’s takeover regulations.

RMH’s latest announcement regarding the deal, released on 1 June 2026, revealed that AttBid now holds a 23.95% stake in the company while Atterbury holds 32.77%.

Once completed, this bid will allow Atterbury to consolidate its influence over RMH and direct the financial monetisation and corporate winding up of RMH’s property assets.

The Competition Commission has already given the deal the green light, recommending that the Competition Tribunal approve the takeover with no conditions.

WeBuyCars previously told Daily Investor that “Faan and Dirk have been invested in Atterbury-related assets for many years”.

The Van der Walt brothers founded WeBuyCars in 2001 after having spent years repairing cars in their backyard.

Taught by their father, Faan and Dirk spent much of their free time working on engines, brakes, tyres, and anything related to vehicles.

Faan came up with the idea of turning this passion into a business. He studied newspaper adverts to find cars he could buy cheaply, repair, and then sell for a profit.

This is how WeBuyCars was born. Business was slow to start, but the company grew rapidly in 2010 when the brothers bought their first warehouse.

The warehouse expanded WeBuyCars’s capacity significantly, and it only grew from there. Today, WeBuyCars is a household name in South Africa and a JSE-listed giant, valued at R13.38 billion.