Recently published statistics by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission reflect 157 new filings for business rescue in the period April to August. These have affected the public sector , the private sector and close corporations . The busiest regions for filings have been Gauteng , Western Cape , Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal .
The fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic will continue to be felt in the months ahead, both globally and in SA. Even with the gradual lifting of the lockdown , there will be both short and long-term economic implications as South Africans continue to grapple with an effective way to allow the economy to be kick-started in the near term.
We have already seen significant fallout caused by the harsh trading conditions caused by the pandemic and lockdown. The airline industry, together with retail and construction, are severely constrained. This has caused SAA, SA Express , Comair, Busby and Edcon to file for the business rescue process set out in the Companies Act of 2011.
The upside to all of this is that Covid-19 provides struggling, financially distressed companies the opportunity for a “fresh start” . We have recently seen the purchase by TFG of Jet Stores from the business rescue practitioners of Edcon for R480m, which should be completed by September. In addition, it has been reported that SA Express’s provisional liquidators have received offers from 17 private equity investors for the purchase of the entire operations of the airline.