South African billionaire Ivan Saltzman quits Dis-Chem board, ending the founding family's 48-year presence

Ivan Saltzman has resigned from the board of Dis-Chem Pharmacies with immediate effect, barely three weeks after taking up the non-executive seat created for him on retirement, leaving South Africa's second-largest pharmacy chain without a single member of its founding family in the boardroom.

The company disclosed the resignation through the Stock Exchange News Service after market close on Friday. "Following careful consideration, Ivan believes that the timing is appropriate to facilitate the board succession," Dis-Chem said, describing the move as the final step in a phased handover that began when Rui Morais became chief executive in July 2023.

The timing is abrupt. Saltzman retired as an executive director on June 30 after 48 years, and was appointed a non-independent non-executive director and deputy chairman the following day. His exit also comes eight days after his son Saul resigned from the board, and a week before the annual general meeting scheduled for July 31.

A withdrawal in stages

The founding family has been stepping back for four years. Lynette Saltzman, who started the business with her husband, left the executive board in July 2022 and moved into an operational role focused on the group's beauty category. Ivan handed the chief executive role to Morais, then chief financial officer, the following year.

Saul Saltzman, the only one of the couple's children to build a career inside the business, gave notice in October 2025 and stepped down as an executive director effective February 27, moving to a non-independent non-executive seat before leaving the board altogether on July 17. He had spent 25 years at Dis-Chem, running the group's import division and its private-label strategy, and had sat on the board since the 2016 listing. His departure removed a re-election resolution from the AGM agenda.

Stanley Goetsch, a pharmacist who spent 42 years at the company, retired as an executive director on June 30 alongside Ivan Saltzman.

Chairman Larry Nestadt has said Saltzman's contribution to South African retail pharmacy is without parallel, and that his legacy as the architect of the business will remain imprinted on its strategy. Morais described the financial year to February as the end of an era for the group. Saltzman said Dis-Chem's succession planning had always accounted for his retirement, and that he was leaving with confidence in the leadership and strategic direction.

The shareholding has moved too

Ownership has shifted alongside the board seats. In June 2025 Saltzman restructured the interest he held through Ivlyn Local Investment Holdings, distributing 217,125,386 ordinary shares, roughly a quarter of the company, to his sons Dan and Mark. Dis-Chem told shareholders in a regulatory filing that the shares would remain within the family and that the transfer would not affect liquidity in the stock. Ivlyn's own holding fell to about 4 percent after the distribution. Saul Saltzman held 0.04 percent at the end of February.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index put Saltzman and his family at about $1.3 billion this month, the first time he has appeared on the ranking. Dis-Chem carries a market value of roughly $1.8 billion, or about R30 billion.

From a Mondeor pharmacy to a R43 billion retailer

Saltzman was born in 1950 and raised in Port Elizabeth. He was working as a locum at a small pharmacy in Mondeor, south of Johannesburg, and grew frustrated with how the business was run, so he offered to buy it. He and Lynette opened their own store in 1978 with R10,000 in capital.

They widened the range well beyond pharmaceuticals, a decision that defined the model. The store turned a profit almost immediately, and a second followed at Randridge Mall in 1984. Expansion accelerated through the nineties on the same formula of discounted medicine alongside general merchandise.

The hundredth store opened in 2016, by which point revenue had reached R15.5 billion. Dis-Chem listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on November 18 that year with 101 stores in South Africa and two partner outlets in Namibia, selling 27.5 percent of its share capital and raising about R4.4 billion in what was then the second-largest initial public offering in the exchange's history.

Growth since has come through new stores, the acquisition of Baby City, an e-commerce push and, under Morais, an integrated Health Hub format combining pharmacies with clinics, diagnostics and telemedicine. The group reported revenue of R42.8 billion for the year to February 2026, up 9.3 percent, from more than 300 stores across southern Africa and a workforce of roughly 18,500.

Friday's announcement gave no indication of who would take the deputy chairman position. The annual general meeting on July 31 will be the first since the listing at which no member of the Saltzman family stands for election to the board.