The board of Afristrat Investment Holdings, the suspended JSE-listed company in which investors invested R2.3 billion in preference shares, has been forced to abandon its planned voluntary liquidation application for now.
Afristrat, in an update published on Sens on Friday about its voluntary liquidation application, referred shareholders to its announcement on 24 July 2023 about a creditor of the company who had launched its own liquidation application against the company.
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Read: Afristrat to liquidate because it’s ‘commercially insolvent’
This creditor liquidation application had been set down on the unopposed high court motion roll to be heard on 20 July 2023 but was subsequently removed pending the outcome of an application to liquidate Afristrat that was lodged by Jienie-Michelle Dreyer, a single minority shareholder in the company.
Afristrat said on Friday that the creditor intends to re-enrol its liquidation application.
This follows Judge Gregory Ally in the High Court in Pretoria on 20 February 2024, dismissing with costs Dryer’s urgent application to provisionally liquidate Afristrat.
Read: Application for provisional liquidation of Afristrat dismissed
Afristrat said the creditor applicant, whom it did not name, is currently awaiting a new date for the matter to be heard.
“Consequently, Afristrat will not be able to proceed with its voluntary liquidation application at this time as the creditor application will take precedence,” it said.
Change The Conversation Digital
Moneyweb reported on 29 February 2024 that Change The Conversation Digital (CTCD), a former client of Afristrat, would be re-enrolling an application to liquidate Afristrat because of R433 000 it claims is due, owing and payable to it by the company.
Read: Afristrat to face a second liquidation application
Sandy Greaves Campbell, a director of CTCD, confirmed to Moneyweb over the weekend that their position had not changed since Afristrat had announced that its board planned to apply for the liquidation of the company because it is commercially insolvent.
“Our intention is to proceed with the application for Afristrat’s liquidation,” she said.
“Afristrat is indebted to CTCD and has failed to make payment.
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“In terms of Section 345 of the Companies Act, which is the basis on which the application is being brought, Afristrat is deemed unable to pay its debts.”
Dreyer confirmed last week that she will definitely be applying for leave to appeal the dismissal of her application to liquidate Afristrat.
“The papers are ready and will be lodged tomorrow [Friday] or something,” she said.
Board’s decision to liquidate
The board of Afristrat Investment Holdings, previously known as Ecsponent, decided to liquidate the company on 1 March 2024.
In a Sens statement published on 6 March 2024, Afristrat advised holders of shares in the company its board had decided that the company:
- Is unable to pay its debts;
- Is not meeting the solvency and liquidity test as set forth in Section 4 of the Companies Act, 2008 (Act 71 of 2008), as amended, and therefore, it will be just and equitable to wind up the company; and
- Must proceed with a liquidation application in terms of Section 344(f) and/or 344(h) of the Companies Act, 1973, as the company is commercially insolvent.
Afristrat added that the conclusions reached by its board on the going concern assessment were unaffected by the judgment and dismissal of Dreyer’s liquidation application.
Afristrat last published audited financial results for the year to end-March 2021, with the JSE suspending all trading in its shares effective from 5 August 2022 because the company had failed to publish its audited financial statements for the year to end-March 2022 within the four-month period following its year-end, as stipulated in the JSE’s Listings Requirements.
Afristrat announced the resignation of its external auditors Nexia SAB&T with immediate effect on 12 August 2022 and, to date, has failed to appoint new external auditors.
Read:
Afristrat admits it is unable to continue as a going concern [Jan 2024]
Huh? JSE-suspended Afristrat issues a puzzling trading update
JSE suspends trading in Afristrat shares [Aug 2022]
Afristrat is contravening the Companies Act [Jun 2023]
