FRANKFURT May 17 (Reuters) – South African retail group Steinhoff on Wednesday said it was kicking off a process to separately list its African retail businesses on the Johannesburg stock exchange.

Prior to listing, it will consolidate its African retail businesses, with assets including Pepkor South Africa and rest of Africa, JD Group, Unitrans Automotive, Steinbuild, Poco South Africa and Tekkie Town.

Steinhoff said it would continue to hold a controlling stake in the unit following the listing, which will include a capital increase and be completed in the third quarter of 2017. (Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Arno Schuetze)