SOUTH African agriculture and agri-processing firm, Tongaat Hulett Limited, expects the company to be successfully rescued in a manner that balances the rights and interests of all interested parties.
Tongaat entered into voluntary corporate rescue on October 27, 2022, after its total claims and debt reached ZAR13 billion.
Following an extensive bidding process, South African investment consortium, Vision Group, was last year chosen to rescue the firm.
Locally, Tongaat operates through its wholly-owned Triangle Sugar operation and a 50,3% shareholding in the agriculture and agro-processing firm, Hippo Valley Estates Limited.
“It remains our view that the company stands a reasonable prospect of being rescued, as contemplated in Section 128(1)(h) of the Companies Act, in a manner that will balance the rights and interests of all affected persons,” Tongaat said in a latest update.
“Creditors are reminded to review their claims as they are reflected in ‘Annexure A’ of the Plan, which reflects all claims by the company’s records. If any creditor identifies any discrepancies between its submitted claim and the claim amount recorded by the company, please do not hesitate to contact us.”
The firm said the business rescue plan provided a process for creditors to deal with any remaining disputes related to its claims. It said creditors that dispute their claims reflected in the plan would be at liberty to follow such a process if they so wished.
“The business rescue practitioners continue to advance the necessary steps for purposes of implementing the ‘Amended Business Rescue Plan’ for Tongaat as approved and adopted by the requisite majority of creditors on Thursday, 11 January 2024, by Section 151 of the Companies Act. 2.1.2,” Tongaat said.
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“The implementation of the plan continues to focus on the alternative transaction [the asset transaction] by the plan, which contemplates the sale of the company’s business and assets as a going concern to the Vision Parties.”
The asset transaction entails the sale of, inter alia, the group’s South African assets, including the South African sugar business and head office, and the shares in and claims against each of the subsidiaries in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana.
Under this transaction, Vision will assume all of Tongaat’s assets with a book value of ZAR5,9 billion (US$330,05 million).
“Vision continues to co-operate fully with the business rescue practitioners and executive management of the company to bring implementation of the asset transaction to a close as soon as possible,” Tongaat said.
“There is a core team focused on satisfying the conditions on which the plan is contingent and ensuring the implementation of the underlying transaction.”
