Tongaat Hulett creditors’ vote postponed again amid court challenge

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Tongaat Hulett creditors’ vote postponed again amid court challenge

10:07 CAT | 08 Dec 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. Xinavane sugar mill, in Mozambique [File photo: Tongaat Hullet]

The Durban High Court on Thursday postponed hearings on urgent interdicts against Tongaat Hulett’s business rescue plans until Wednesday next week.

Hulett was set to make two proposals on Friday in a meeting that would have seen creditors vote on a buyer for the company. But a pending court case has pushed the vote down

A meeting to decide the future of indebted sugar producer Tongaat Hulett has been put on ice as industry leaders take the company to court.

Hulett was set to make two proposals on Friday in a meeting that would have seen creditors vote on a buyer for the company.

But a pending court case has pushed the vote down.

Food group, RCL Foods, and the South African Sugar Association took to the Durban High Court earlier this week to file an urgent interdict against Friday’s meeting.

Though the two entities filed separate applications, they both want the court to declare unlawful Hulett’s business rescue plan published in November.

The court challenge comes amid claims the company is trying to evade paying several levies to industry bodies worth more than a billion rand.

Hulett has now opposed the urgent applications.

The industry players have since agreed on a timeline to plead their cases, with the matter now set down for next week.

This means Friday’s meeting has to be adjourned until after the court hearing.

When the crucial meeting does finally go ahead, two bidders will vie for control of the sugar giant.

This includes the RGS Group and Vision Consortium, linked to businessman and ANC funder, Robert Gumede.

READ: Mozambique’s RGS Group eyes Tongaat Hulett takeover, teams up with South Africa’s Ingonyama Holdings

Source: EWN