07 November 2023
By: Lloyd Phillips
If initial reports are confirmed as accurate, a new potential bidder for Tongaat Hulett and its South African subsidiaries is in play.
The team handling the voluntary business rescue of Tongaat Hulett and its South African subsidiaries in property development, sugar milling and animal feed manufacturing appear cautiously optimistic about a reported surprise bid for the giant company.
Metis Strategic Advisors issued a brief statement on Monday indicating they were aware of a report in City Press on Sunday. The article by Sizwe Sama Yende said a small group of high-powered businesspeople had formed the Terris Consortium with the aim of taking over Tongaat.
Yende reported that Terris is headed by South African Robert Gumede of the Guma Africa Group; Zimbabwean Rutenhoro Moyo of Mauritius-registered Remoggo; South African Amre Youness of Samancor; and Pakistani Nauman Khan of Pakistan-registered Almoiz Industries.
Citing an anonymous source, Yende and City Press said Terris used “its strong financial muscle to buy out 12 banks that had a combined claim of R8 billion” against the beleaguered Tongaat.
African Farming has previously reported that various bidders have shown keen interest in acquiring part or all of Tongaat’s South African operations. The company went into voluntary business rescue on 27 October 2022, plunging South Africa’s already long-struggling sugarcane value chain into further uncertainty and financial distress. This was exacerbated by Tongaat’s business rescue practitioners unilaterally deciding to withhold payments of reportedly legally mandated levies and other monies to the South African Sugar Association.
In July, African Farming reported that the business rescue practitioners had selected Tanzanian company Kagera Sugar as the preferred bidder for Tongaat. However, the Terris intervention might well turn this on its head.
The Metis statement said that while it had received verbal confirmation of an agreement between Tongaat’s banking lender group and Terris for the latter’s acquisition of the former’s claims and security against the Tongaat group, neither the banks nor Terris had formally notified the business rescue practitioners of this.
“The business rescue practitioners are considering the potential impact [of this reported agreement] on the business rescue. Our initial views are that this development is likely to be positive for both affected persons and the company,” the Metis statement said.
“The business rescue practitioners are awaiting formal confirmation of the completion of the transaction and will communicate the way forward in due course and through the correct forums”.
African Farming’s efforts to speak to one or more members of the Terris Consortium have been unsuccessful so far.
The website of Gumede’s Guma Group appears to be outdated and the office telephone number provided no longer exists. No website or contact details for Moyo’s Remoggo appear to exist. Samancor’s website also appears to be outdated. Only an email to Khan’s Almoiz Industries has been confirmed as received, but no further response has emanated from the company.African Farming will report further on this matter as new information becomes available.
