Rebosis Property Fund announced the sale of four more of its properties for a total value of R160m — close to only half of its value — as the company seeks to sell off assets as part of its ongoing business-rescue process to try to save the debt-ridden company.
The latest properties to be sold are owned by Ascension Properties, a subsidiary of Rebosis, and valued at R291m, according to a valuation from an independent company done in April.
These include three office buildings in Ekurhuleni and one office building in Midrand with a combined gross lettable area of 28,122m², about the size of four soccer fields.
According to Wednesday’s announcement, the buyer, Katleho Property Investments, will take ownership of these assets before the end of March.
The latest news follows its August announcement that the business-rescue practitioners (BRPs) would sell 27 properties for just more than R7bn and another 10, announced earlier in September for R650m.
Rebosis entered business rescue on August 26 2022, citing rising interest rates, the inability to recover increased municipal costs from sovereign tenants and the continuous delay of rental payments by some government departments (accounting for more than half of group revenue). The trading of its shares was suspended on the JSE.
Phahlani Mkhombo of Genesis Corporate Solutions (GCS) and Jacques du Toit of DTB Business Rescue were appointed BRPs on August 31 to handle the business rescue process, which allows turnaround specialists to delay creditor claims temporarily while a company works out a plan to revive itself.
Should the company continue operating in terms of the proposed business-rescue plan, and the proposed restructuring plan is successfully implemented, the company’s debt will be restructured to allow it to continue operating as a going concern.
The BRPs said in June that they were confident there was a “reasonable prospect” of rescuing the company because of the interest from private individuals, joint ventures and JSE-listed real-estate investment trusts (Reits) in buying some of its properties.
But on Wednesday the BRPs and the board reiterated that Rebosis did not generate enough cash to cover its operating expenses, including interest payments on its debt.
“The working capital available to Rebosis is therefore not sufficient for its present requirements and it has entered into post-commencement finance arrangements with certain of its creditors to enable Rebosis to continue operating, pending conclusion of the public sales process.”
With Denise Mhlanga
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