JSE-listed Tongaat Hulett announced that the joint business rescue practitioners (BRPs) have requested approval from creditors for an extension of the date for the publication of the business rescue plan to February 28.

In October 2022, the company advised that it had started voluntary business rescue proceedings and, in November, the date for the publication of the plan was extended to January 31.

The requisite holders of a majority of the creditors’ voting interests have agreed to the requested extension.

Therefore, the plan for the company will be published on or before February 28.

When the business rescue proceedings of a company have not concluded within three months of the date on which they started, the BRPs are required to prepare a report on the progress of the business rescue proceedings, and update it at the end of each subsequent month until the end of the business rescue proceedings; and deliver the report and each update to each affected person and to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission.

The first such report, being the January 2023 report, was published by the BRPs on January 27, and is available for shareholders to view on the company’s website.

Also, Tongaat CEO Gavin Hudson has tendered his resignation with effect from February 28.

The company’s core team of executives will continue to work with the BRPs.

The company says that Hudson spearheaded efforts to recover the group four years ago following the discovery of accounting irregularities in 2019. This involved reducing the group’s debt burden by R6.5-billion and turning around governance and operational processes.

Unfortunately, these turnaround efforts were hampered by Covid-19, civil unrest and floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the company started business rescue proceedings in October 2022.

The BRPs and remaining board members thanked Hudson for his contribution and wished him well in his future endeavours.