South African construction giant enters liquidation
Listed engineering and construction firm Murray & Roberts Holdings has been placed into provisional liquidation, following an order of the High Court.
The group confirmed on Tuesday (9 September) that the Gauteng High Court ordered for the provisional winding up of the company, an order for final liquidation expected on 17 October.
The court granted the order at the behest of one of Murray & Roberts Holding’s creditors, who will seek the final order later in the month.
A provisional liquidator is expected to be appointed by the Master of the High Court in due course, the group said.
“The company continues to engage with its legal advisors and will keep shareholders informed of any material developments,” it said.
“The suspension of trading in the company’s shares, which took effect on 22 November 2024…remains in place.”
The group noted that the provisional liquidation order relates only to Murray & Roberts Holdings Limited, the listed entity, and does not impact its downstream subsidiary, Murray & Roberts Limited (MRL).
MRL is a separate legal entity currently under business rescue. The business rescue proceedings in respect
of MRL remain ongoing.
MRL entered voluntary business rescue on 22 November 2024 and is in the process of trying to stabilise proceedings.
It recently announced an R80 million injection in post-commencement finance (PCF) for the rescue plan, coming from Differential Captal.
As part of the rescue plan, MRL’s mining-related subsidiary businesses, including the Cementation operations in both Africa and the America, will be sold to a group of investors led by Differential Capital.
Once completed, the transaction is expected to safeguard approximately 2,800 jobs across these businesses, with a particular emphasis on preserving South African jobs in Cementation Africa.
The MRL business rescue practitioners said that they were confident that the adopted business rescue plan represents the most sustainable and viable path forward for the business.
However, as MRL was the main commercial subsidiary of Murray & Roberts Holdings, the plan leaves the latter with no revenue-generating unit, and thus commercially insolvent.
This led to the liquidation proceedings of the holding company.
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