{"id":836560,"date":"2025-09-01T16:07:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T14:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=836560"},"modified":"2025-09-01T16:22:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T14:22:41","slug":"its-the-end-for-a-19-year-old-state-owned-company-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/836560\/its-the-end-for-a-19-year-old-state-owned-company-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s the end for a 19-year-old state-owned company in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

State-owned low-cost airline, Mango, will face a critical vote this month with the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) presenting its proposal to wind down the business to creditors on 12 September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BRPs gave official notice<\/strong><\/a> of the vote on Monday (1 September), having finalised a revised business rescue plan to incorporate the winding down process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision to wind down the business was taken in August after ongoing legal battles over the proposed buyout of the carrier scared away the only investor interested in taking over the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mango was launched in October 2006 and flew for 15 years before being placed into business rescue in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a state-owned company forming part of South African Airways (SAA), which has relaunched its operations following its own business rescue and revitalisation strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Mango is still technically a SOC under SAA, the parent ariline nor the state has provided any further financial support to the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its survival was wholly dependent on a third-party investor coming to the table and taking over the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in a circular published by the BRPs in August, the group confirmed that such an investor, established as Ubuntu Air for the transaction, no longer wanted to proceed with the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that the buyout was the last option to keep the company flying, the BRPs moved to initiate winding down proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, a structured winding down of a business is still regarded as a business rescue as creditors stand to gain more through this route than an outright liquidation of the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it stands, the airline has no material assets other than a cash balance of R383.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through liquidation, creditors are likely to receive a dividend of approximately 2.68 cents to the Rand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, with a structured winding down, through which the BRPs can resolve outstanding matters and claims, creditors will receive payment of a dividend estimated at approximately 11.71 cents in the Rand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dividend could increase, depending on events during the winding down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, the BRPs noted that group they have received an enquiry from an overseas based air operator regarding the possibility of negotiating a transaction for the sale of Mango and its brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this process will have no effect on the implementation of the Structured Wind Down other than a possible increased dividend, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Should a satisfactory offer be received backed by the necessary proof of funding, the BRP will convene a meeting of creditors to present and discuss the offer,” the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unused Mango tickets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For any Mango customers with unflown tickets, Monday, 1 September 2025, marks the final day to stake a claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the business rescue plan, in winding down, any customers with unflown tickets will be treated as creditors in the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In winding down, Mango will proceed with realising its assets and distribute the proceeds to creditors and affected customers as a final dividend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final payout will represent only a portion of the verified value of their ticket or voucher, as mentioned above (ie, around 11.71 cents on the Rand).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, to be included in the final dividend calculation, customers must verify their unused tickets and vouchers via the official Mango Voucher Portal before 1 September 2025 at 23h59.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No late submissions will be accepted beyond this deadline, the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BRPs said this process is essential to ensure that Mango\u2019s records accurately reflect customer entitlements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the 12 September creditor vote, the ultimate fate of the airline and its winding up will be decided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BRPs said that creditors will make a preliminary vote on the process to adopt the new business rescue plan, though there may be amendments and a postponement to a further date, depending on how things go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creditors will have until 9 September to submit questions or proposals for amendments, ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mango’s business rescue practitioners say customers with unflown tickets have until midnight to stake their claim as the airline winds down for good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":836565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[20044,2476,1675],"class_list":["post-836560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-business-rescue","tag-mango","tag-saa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836560"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836567,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836560\/revisions\/836567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}