{"id":861022,"date":"2026-05-21T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=861022"},"modified":"2026-05-21T12:45:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:45:36","slug":"plan-to-save-historic-134-year-old-company-in-south-africa-from-liquidation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/861022\/plan-to-save-historic-134-year-old-company-in-south-africa-from-liquidation\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan to save historic 134-year-old company in South Africa from liquidation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A group of large-scale sugar growers is looking to save Tongaat Hulett, with the iconic company set for a liquidation hearing less than one month away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tongaat’s history dates back to 1892, and it grew into one of the nation\u2019s primary sugar producers, supporting thousands of jobs in KwaZulu-Natal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its significant history, the company was placed in business rescue in October 2022 after an accounting scandal under its former management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it received funding from the Industrial Development Corporation and the Vision Consortium, the parties would disagree over further funding arrangements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This led the business rescue practitioners to apply for liquidation in February. Its liquidation proceedings in April, however, were delayed after the IDC extended a funding facility to the end of June. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With liquidation proceedings scheduled for next month and no firm solution to the company’s future, a grower-led\u00a0entity has been\u00a0established. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This entity, called GrowerCo, is seeking funding to keep Tongaat’s mills and refinery operational, warning that this infrastructure is crucial to preventing a collapse of the sugar industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entity looks to include small- and large-scale growers as equity partners. It said this is in contrast to an extractive private equity model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that it is focused on “maintaining\u00a0milling operations, safeguarding jobs, and preserving economic activity across rural KwaZulu-Natal.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tongaat’s operations support between 35,000 and 40,000\u00a0direct\u00a0jobs\u00a0at the farm level, its mills, and\u00a0its\u00a0refinery, making it an economic anchor for entire rural communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe future of KwaZulu-Natal\u00a0is\u00a0intricately tied to the future of\u00a0Tongaat Hulett,” said Pratish Sharma, a grower\u00a0who supplies\u00a0Tongaat Hulett\u2019s\u00a0Maidstone\u00a0mill.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The\u00a0long-term\u00a0economic\u00a0and societal\u00a0consequences of its\u00a0liquidation would far exceed the\u00a0liabilities\u00a0on\u00a0the company\u2019s\u00a0balance sheet.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 17,000 of South Africa\u2019s 28,000 sugarcane growers supply\u00a0Tongaat Hulett, most of whom are small-scale farmers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entity said that 75% of the sugar industry\u2019s revenue stems from KZN,\u00a0where\u00a0Tongaat Hulett\u00a0is a dominant\u00a0driver of economic activity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 77% of the sugar industry\u2019s revenue stems from KwaZulu-Natal,\u00a0where\u00a0Tongaat Hulett\u00a0is a dominant\u00a0driver of economic activity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrowerCo\u00a0not only\u00a0makes sense because it puts\u00a0Tongaat Hulett\u00a0under the ownership of people with a long-term commitment to the sugar industry in South Africa,” said grower Nicholas Ngobe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSmall-scale growers\u00a0are equity partners in\u00a0GrowerCo\u00a0and will earn returns not only on their sugarcane but will share in equity growth over the long run.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

R1 billion vs R4.5 billion <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

GrowerCO said it had raised long-term and patient capital and would unlock sustainable value over time by stabilising and strengthening a crucial agricultural value chain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that liquidation would destroy not only rural livelihoods\u00a0but also value in\u00a0Tongaat Hulett\u00a0for its current debtors.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It believes that debtors would be able to realise R3 billion to R4.5 billion for\u00a0Tongaat Hulett if it is sold as a going concern. However, the value recovery during liquidation could be as low as R1 billion to R1.5 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrowerCo\u00a0is a stakeholder-inclusive plan to avoid\u00a0a liquidation\u00a0scenario and to ensure that\u00a0Tongaat Hulett’s South African sugar operations\u00a0can continue as\u00a0a going concern,” said Sharma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It has been designed by the people who supply the cane,\u00a0operate\u00a0the mills, and depend on the industry,\u00a0and is built around patient capital and a model of reinvestment.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tongaat’s assets are at the centre of a rural economy that includes cane growers and mill workers, transporters, food producers, retailers, and consumers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GrowerCo said that the interdependence provides the foundation of the investment case: without functioning mills, growers have no route to market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, without a sustainable cane supply, the mills themselves would have no value. The entity thus believes that its proposal solves both sides of the equation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of sugar growers are looking to save Tongaat Hulett from liquidation, with thousands of jobs on the line. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":857365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[22744],"class_list":["post-861022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-tongaat-huleet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861022","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861022"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861066,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861022\/revisions\/861066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}