DURBAN – Phumelela creditors have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Phumelela Business Rescue Practitioner’s (BRP) Plan (the Plan) which sees Mary Oppenheimer and Daughters’ (MOD) offer to secure the future of horse-racing in South Africa.
The build-up to the creditor vote saw transaction interest and commentary from diverse sectors of the industry. However MOD prevailed by a large majority vote with creditors choosing not to adjourn the meeting and, instead, voted heavily in favour of the MOD offer.
The success of the MOD offer sees the acquisition of key racing assets and secures the thoroughbred horse racing industry in South Africa. The Restructuring Task Team (RTT) which represents MOD, have identified key target areas for investment and development to ensure the South African horse racing product improves and transforms, becomes more relevant, accessible, and is distributed both nationally and internationally.
“We are very happy that creditors have voted in favour of the BRP’s MOD-backed plan. We have an exciting journey ahead as we begin to manage and invest in the assets that MOD be acquiring.
We see a bright future for racing in South Africa and MOD will need the support of the whole industry to deliver a strong, unified South African racing product.” stated Charles Savage of the RTT team.
Savage continued: “What is critical to our success will be the reinvestment of profits into the industry, from grass-roots up, to make racing a broad-based, sustainable and relevant product for all South Africans.”
MOD has been the sole funding supporter of the industry since Phumelela went into Business Rescue in May this year. MOD agreed to provide post-commencement finance of up to R100 million to fund the operations of the Company during the Business Rescue process.
In order to facilitate an orderly sale process, and on adoption of the Plan, MOD will provide additional PCF funding of R550 million to pay creditors and allow the BRP time to sell remaining Phumelela assets outside of a distressed sale, thereby maximising value for creditors.
Andrew Harrison