The business rescue practitioners of SAA intend to hand back the company by the end of March, ending the 15-month rescue process.
In a detailed notice to affected parties on Friday, the rescue practitioners outlined all the outstanding matters to be completed by the end of March and said SAA was now a company that was “solvent and liquid”.
SAA has been in business rescue since December 2019. In October 2020 it was allocated R10.5bn to fund the business rescue process. Most of this has already flowed to SAA, with the rest to come as other obligations fall due later in 2021.
To hand the company back and file a notice of “substantial implementation”, the rescue practitioners said they needed to complete the payment of employees, or make provision for it; finalise payment of post-commencement creditors; and establish the receivership to manage these payments.
“The aforesaid matters are being dealt with as critical by the business rescue practitioners and are being addressed as expeditiously as possible, and it is anticipated that these items will be fully addressed by the end of March 2021,” says the notice.
However, it is not yet clear when SAA will resume flying again. A travel advisory posted on its website recently said that flying was suspended until October. Resuming operations will depend on there being both a management team in place and sufficient working capital. At present there is almost no senior management in place. The only member of the executive committee is an acting CFO.
The company does have an interim board chaired by former Industrial Development Corporation CEO Geoff Qhena and five interim nonexecutive directors.
The department of public enterprises has previously stated that unless a strategic equity partner is secured, SAA will not have sufficient working capital to resume operations. The process of selection of a strategic equity partner or partners is being managed by the department, which has said previously that the matter will be resolved imminently.
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