Great news for Ster Kinekor
Cinema group Ster Kinekor has successfully exited business rescue and has returned to solvency after 20 months.
The group’s Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP), Stefan Smyth, said on Friday (11 November) that he has successfully concluded the business rescue process after raising R250 million in capital from the UK-based asset manager, Blantyre Capital and from the South African asset manager Greenpoint Capital.
“All necessary regulatory requirements for the transaction were fulfilled, including approvals from the South African Reserve Bank and the South Africa Competition Commission. Lease agreements have been renegotiated with the landlords, which were a material condition precedent for the conclusion of the transaction,” he said.
“We are very pleased that we were able to raise the necessary capital to rescue Ster Kinekor. Not only does this investment give the business a solid foundation on which to build its future, it has also meant that some 800 jobs have been retained, and a dividend has been paid to creditors as proposed in the accepted plan.”
Trade creditors will further benefit from ongoing trading with the company, he added
The BRP said that the business is seeing cinema attendance picking up due to blockbuster releases and is expected to continue to improve further into the holiday season
“The brand new V&A 13-screen cinema in Cape Town continues to perform well since its launch during Business Rescue and is expected to continue its upward trajectory with the recent addition of the latest technology IMAX plus Kids, Prestige and D-box offering in,” he said.
“We thank all the Ster Kinekor employees, creditors and relevant stakeholders and new shareholders whose efforts assisted us in exiting Business Rescue and creating a foundation for its future. Our thanks also go to our loyal customer following, and we look forward to entertaining you with new formats and great new content in the future,” he said.
Ster-Kinekor entered business rescue at the end of January 2021 on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic and prolonged lockdown restrictions.
The group said that up until February 2020, the business was profitable and highly cash generative, with good prospects of future and ongoing profitability from the pipeline of blockbuster film content that had been scheduled.
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