Johannesburg - THE business rescue practitioners (BRPs) of troubled SAA have defended the R200 million process to save the national carrier, saying they have reduced the airline’s liabilities by almost R36 billion.
SAA BRPs Siviwe Dongwana and Les Matuson have informed persons affected by the business rescue process that they believe they have fulfilled their task despite the airline shedding about 3 700 jobs.
According to Dongwana and Matuson, SAA’s workforce has been reduced from 4 700 to about 1 000 through voluntary service packages and retrenchments.
The BRPs said the primary achievement of the business rescue process was to transition SAA from being an insolvent company to one that was both solvent and liquid.
”To this end, the liabilities of the airline have been reduced by R35.7bn as a result of the compromise that has been negotiated by the BRPs with concurrent creditors and lessors,” said Dongwana and Matuson.
SAA’s liabilities and damages claims went from R38bn before the business rescue process to R2.3bn due to compromises they negotiated with creditors and lessors.
Dongwana and Matuson state that they have reduced SAA’s general overheads through negotiating supplier contracts on a value-for-money principle and preserved its infrastructure and other assets.
In January, Pretoria News reported that the costs of the business rescue process had escalated to above R200m, with Dongwana and Matuson receiving R59m.
Last week, The Sunday Independent reported that SAA assured the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission’s Companies Tribunal that the business rescue process would end on March 31.
Dongwana and Matuson also revealed that the SAA board and management were working on a restart plan and the resumption of operations of a restructured national carrier.
Deputy Public Enterprises Minister Phumulo Masualle this week assured the country that SAA’s strategic equity partner would be announced in a month’s time, paving the way for a restructured national carrier.
Nearly 700 employees have been placed in the restructured airline on revised terms and conditions.
The BRPs said SAA had received funding for resuming operations after the airline was grounded a year ago, three months after it was placed under business rescue in December 2019.
Outstanding matters that will enable Dongwana and Matuson to issue a notice of substantial implementation of the business rescue plan include the payment of employees − at a minimum − their unpaid salaries or make a provision for this.
SAA still needs to pay some of its creditors.
However, the end of the business rescue process moved a step closer this week when the BRPs informed creditors that they were nominating Dongwana and Bongani Nkasana as receivers. Receivership is the process that follows an entity’s discharge from business rescue.
Dongwana and Nkasana’s responsibilities as receivers will include receiving proceeds of the restructuring process and paying creditors, lessors and lenders, among others.
SAA’s creditors had until yesterday to vote on the appointment of Dongwana and Nkasana.
Both proposed receivers have been punted as having intimate knowledge of SAA’s affairs and the requisite know-how and expertise in receivership.
The R2 000-per-hour receivers will also have powers to investigate SAA’s affairs, business, property and financial situation.
Political Bureau