Latest news with #TongaatHulett
IOL News
4 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Tongaat Hulett's sugar mills lead South Africa in recovery performance
Sugar cane on its way to be processed at Tongaat Hulett's Maidstone Mill. Tongaat's three South African sugar mills, Maidstone, Amatikulu and Felixton have benefited from substantial capital investment over the past three years, following years of disinvestment. Image: Karen Sandison/Independent Newspapers Tongaat Hulett's (THL) three South African sugar mills, Maidstone, Amatikulu and Felixton, which benefited from capital investment since the group went into business rescue, have ranked as the top three nationally for sugar recovery in the current sugar milling season. The recognition indicates the scale of THL's operational turnaround since entering business rescue in October 2022 - the group said in a statement Thursday its mills were now not only stable, but leading performance across the broader South African sugar sector. Tongaat Hulett CEO Gavin Dalgleish, together with the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs), recently met with grower representatives in a series of engagements. These meetings focused on sharing updates about the company's progress under business rescue, as well as the improvements seen across its milling and refining operations. The group's three mills, refinery and animal feed plant, which had previously suffered years of under-investment, benefited from a R1.45 billion capital injection over the past three years, secured through the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). 'The result is a marked improvement in operational performance, with cane being crushed much more efficiently and reliably than before and a renewed sense of confidence among growers, staff, and industry partners,' Dalgleish said. The capital upgrades were accompanied by the recruitment of key technical staff and an investment in training and development of employees. 'The investments made were not just in machinery, but also in our people – and the results are clear. Our teams are now less focused on reactive maintenance and more focused on performance improvement. It's this shift in mindset that's powering real, sustainable change,' said Dalgleish. He said these efforts had translated into year-on-year improvements in key production and efficiency metrics for the current milling season. According to independent industry benchmarking, THL's performance in these metrics had placed its mills among the top in the country – exceeding the industry benchmark standards by a greater margin than anyone else, said Dalgleish. The benchmark standards include the recoverable value metric, which measures the value of molasses and sugar recovered from the sugarcane delivered by an individual grower, as well as the crystal recovery efficiency metric, which measures the percentage of sucrose extracted from the cane that is successfully crystallised into marketable sugar. During the meetings, it became clear that growers placed strong value on consistent, high-efficiency milling, and a reliable mill was worth more to them than any other short-term price incentives. 'Any grower would have noticed that the Maidstone mill is certainly performing better than it has in the past decade,' said Pratish Sharma, Senior Maidstone Grower and local SA Canegrowers representative. 'The investments in the mills give us great confidence that we're going to have a mill capable of crushing our crop. That is crucial, because a high-performing mill gives growers the confidence to invest in and expand their own farms,' said Sharma.
IOL News
27-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Tongaat Hulett's journey to recovery: new leadership and challenges ahead
Gavin Dalgleish was appointed as CEO with effect from 1 June 2025, marking a significant step in the final phase of implementing the approved Business Rescue Plan and setting the stage for a seamless transition of Tongaat Hulett's business, assets, and people to Vision, the consortium acquiring the group. Image: Supplied Tawanda Karombo Tongaat Hulett, the beleaguered South African agro-processing firm, is poised to emerge from the shadow of its tumultuous past, thanks to new leadership and a significant restructuring initiative. Gavin Dalgleish, the company's new CEO, has expressed optimism about the path towards stability following a protracted period marked by scandals and heavy debt that once threatened its existence. Dalgleish was appointed as CEO with effect from 1 June 2025, marking a significant step in the final phase of implementing the approved Business Rescue Plan and setting the stage for a seamless transition of Tongaat Hulett's business, assets, and people to Vision, the consortium acquiring the group. In a recent interview, Dalgleish detailed the pivotal changes occurring at Tongaat Hulett, which has been under business rescue since an accounting scandal left it with debts exceeding R8 billion. Following the acquisition by the Vision Group Consortium, led by seasoned African investors Robert Gumede and Rutenhuro Moyo, the company is now focusing on debt recovery, having recently settled its obligations with creditors. 'We need to restore the faith of our employees, we need to restore the faith of our creditors and all our stakeholders that we're now functioning as a business again, and we're a good place and a reliable partner to do business with,' Dalgleish told Business Report in an interview on Thursday. Tongaat Hulett, however, will still be up against headwinds buffeting the South African and regional economic landscape. For example, upon exiting business rescue, the company will be up against rising imports of cheap sugar and currency volatility. For Dalgleish, the company's recovery will not be quick paced. In fact, he expects the rest of this year to be tougher for Tongaat Hulett. 'Like any other business, we're facing headwinds of a strengthening rand, reduced world market prices of sugar, and imports that flow from that. So for South Africa we're expecting this year to be a slightly tougher year,' he said. Tongaat and the Vision Group principals recently went on a roadshow to meet stakeholders in KwaZulu Natal, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. During those trips, the company explained to stakeholders the new approach to doing business. Dalgleish said together with the Vision principals, the company had sought to 'win back their (stakeholders) trust' and confidence as investors and as a business. Tongaat employs 2 400 people and 25 000 others across the extended value chain. Dalgleish said he felt overwhelmed by the responsibility he carries on behalf of the employees, value chain stakeholders and others linked to the company. He said sustaining jobs for those employed and impacted by the company was a top priority under his leadership. 'I'm excited by the challenge and the opportunity, as I said, I'm pleased with the the resilience of the people and the business that we found. And because of the social economic impact of the business, I have a great sense of responsibility.' After fully settling outstanding obligations to the company's lenders as of 9 May 2025, the finalisation of the asset transfer to Vision Group 'is expected imminently,' the company said at the beginning of this month, underscoring 'Tongaat Hulett's progress toward financial and operational' recovery. Last year, creditors in Tongaat voted in favour of a business rescue plan put forward by Gumede's investment consortium, Vision. This was after an accounting scandal rocked Tongaat Hulett, with the company tail-spinning into a debt of R8.2 billion, prompting shareholders to adopt an amended business rescue plan. Tongaat Hulett is envisioned to continue playing critical roles in the economic fabric of Southern Africa under its new ownership. In South Africa, the business 'remains a cornerstone of the sugar industry, sourcing cane from 15 000 small-scale growers – thereby sustaining local farming communities, and underpinning numerous rural economies,' especially in the KwaZulu-Natal province. In Zimbabwe, Tongaat Hulett owns two operating businesses, Triangle and separately listed Hippo Valley Estates. Triangle said recently that it was facing operational challenges that had forced it to retrench employees after cost cutting measures failed to yield a respite. BUSINESS REPORT
The Citizen
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
Huletts celebrates local farmers in new documentary
Huletts - Growing a sweet future. Tongaat Hulett has released its new Growing A Sweet Future documentary which highlights the inspiring stories of small-scale farmers from the village of Macekane in Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal. The film captures the journeys of Mr Mzimela and the women of the Sizama Ukuyaphambili Co-Operative, who are using agriculture to drive change in their community. Through heartfelt interviews and real-life moments, the documentary showcases how support from Tongaat Hulett has helped these farmers to build sustainable livelihoods and uplift those around them. Watch video here: Mr Mzimela We first meet Mr Mzimela — an elderly man who has spent his life learning the craft of farming. With the help of his sister and the chief, he was granted a piece of land to cultivate, but as a father of seven, he quickly recognised the need to expand his sugarcane farm and ensure a sustainable future for his family. With support from Tongaat Huletts, Mr Mzimela was able to purchase a tractor and diversify his crops. As a result, he has provided for his own family and has created employment opportunities for others in his community. His story, filled with perseverance, resilience, and hope, is a testament to the power of support and opportunity. The women of Sizama Ukuyaphambili Co-Operative The women of the Sizama Ukuyaphambili Co-operative are demonstrating the power of agriculture when combined with passion and community support. This dynamic group of women has been working tirelessly to turn their shared vision into reality: to create a thriving garden that feeds their community, provides jobs and empowers the next generation. Through Tongaat Huletts' support, the co-op received new equipment like fencing and water systems, allowing their gardens to flourish. The women's goal is simple but powerful: to grow, expand, and one day see their produce on the shelves of retail stores with the support they've received. This dream is now within reach. Watch these inspiring stories on YouTube.
IOL News
14-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Tongaat Hulett's business rescue: Vision Consortium secures funding for lenders
Hippo Valley and Triangle Sugar are Tongaat Hulett units that supply Zimbabwe and the EU with sugar. Tongaat Hulett's Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) said they had received confirmation from the lenders, most South African banks, that they had received the balance of the funds owed to them by the Vision Consortium, the company that is taking over the struggling Southern African sugar group. This follows the Vision Parties confirming to the BRPs in April 2025 that they had secured credit approval to meet the payments of the balance of their obligations owed to the Lender Group, to enable the Vision parties to complete the acquisition of the claims and security. 'This represents a significant step forward in the successful implementation of the BR Plan and reinforces the BRPs' confidence in its ongoing viability,' the BRPs said in a statement.
IOL News
11-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Tongaat Hulett's rescue or ruin? the damning quiet of a company in freefall
Tongaat Hulett refinery in KwaZulu-Natal. Image: Supplied It has now been more than two years since Tongaat Hulett, South Africa's 130-year-old sugar giant, entered business rescue. What was supposed to be a bold restructuring has instead devolved into a slow, painful erosion of shareholder rights, creditor value, and public confidence. As of today, 10 May 2025, the Vision consortium—heralded as the saviour of Tongaat—has failed to deliver even a cent of the promised funding. The April 30 deadline, the fifth to be missed, has passed with silence. No explanation. No accountability. No money. And yet, somehow, the show goes on. The Illusion of Progress On 16 April, a SENS announcement confirmed that the Zimbabwean competition commission had approved the sale of assets to Vision. According to the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs), this was the 'last required competition authority sign-off,' supposedly marking progress. But let's call this what it really is: window dressing. The BRPs and Vision are pushing forward with asset sales not as part of a thriving business rescue, but as a fallback mechanism—the 'Debt Set Off' clause—that bypasses shareholder approval, strips the company of assets, and readies it for liquidation. Let that sink in: the rescue of Tongaat is being implemented through liquidation-by-stealth. Legal storms brewing This brazen shift has not gone unchallenged. Two legal processes are now before the courts: RGS Group's Part B in the Durban High Court seeks to set aside the adopted plan, citing Vision's failure to meet its contractual obligation to acquire the full R8.5 billion in lender claims before any debt-for-equity conversion or asset sale could proceed. That was a clear condition precedent—not a suggestion—and its violation renders the plan unimplementable under both the Companies Act and established precedent. A Shareholder Interdict submitted in the Johannesburg High Court seeks a declaratory order that the plan unlawfully alters shareholder rights and, by failing to hold a shareholder vote as required under Section 152(3)(c), was never lawfully adopted. In effect, the sale of assets currently underway may well be void ab initio—illegal from the outset. Tongaat Hulett itself confirmed in its 4 April BR update that while Part A of RGS's challenge was dismissed on urgency grounds, Part B remains active, and shareholders have delivered their own affidavit, which should have been publicly posted on THL's website. If either legal action succeeds, Vision's grip on Tongaat could collapse overnight. The myth of shareholder consent Let us be clear: shareholders never voted for this outcome. Despite the BRPs' insistence that the business rescue plan did not "alter shareholder rights," the facts say otherwise. The plan proposed issuing 4.86 billion shares to Vision, diluting existing shareholders to just 2.7%. In real terms, the dilution destroyed shareholder value by over 97%—a fact confirmed in the shareholder court application. Under Section 152(3)(c) of the Companies Act, any such alteration requires shareholder approval. Yet the BRPs, led by Trevor Murgatroyd, Pieter van den Steen and Gerhard Albertyn, chose not to convene a vote. Worse still, when shareholders rejected the Section 41(3) resolution to approve the share issue in August 2024, the BRPs simply pivoted to the asset sale model without missing a beat. This isn't corporate rescue. It's corporate coup. Asset Stripping in Real Time SENS notices confirm that the BRPs have signed four major Business Sale Agreements: Tongaat's entire South African operations have been sold to Vision Sugar SA. Its Zimbabwean business , Triangle Sugar, is being handed over. Its Botswana stake has been transferred to ensure a controlling 50.1% interest. And in perhaps the most controversial deal, Mozambique's sugar operations —including Acucareira de Moçambique and Tongaat Hulett Açucar Lda—are being disposed of. Yet to date, shareholders have not seen the sale agreements. The applicants in the shareholder interdict explicitly state they are unaware whether these deals are subject to any suspensive conditions, or whether they've already been partially executed. So we must ask: who authorised the sale of billions in strategic assets without a lawfully adopted plan? And more urgently—what happens if the courts rule that the plan was invalid from the outset? The sound of silence Standard Bank, Vision's transaction advisor, guarantor and lead lender, remains disturbingly quiet. It was their 'letter of funds' in December 2023 that supposedly confirmed Vision's liquidity. Yet four deadlines have now passed. Did the funds ever exist? Were they warehoused elsewhere? Has Standard Bank misled the market? The same bank now stands to benefit from Vision's completion of the deal it enabled and guaranteed. If this isn't a case study in conflicted interests, then nothing is. What the law demands Sections 134, 140 and 152 of the Companies Act exist precisely to prevent this kind of abuse. They require: That all property disposals occur only under a lawfully adopted business rescue plan. That BRPs must implement only such a plan—not their own version. That shareholder rights, if altered, must be approved in a vote. All of these protections have been cast aside. In their place is a rescue plan implemented in name only—a plan that no longer exists in its originally approved form, but continues to be actioned as if it does. This Is No Longer Business Rescue Let's not sugarcoat it: Tongaat Hulett is being dismantled. And this is happening under the noses of regulators, bankers, employees, and the public. If the courts do not intervene—and fast—South Africa may soon witness one of its oldest listed companies being dismembered in broad daylight, shielded by legal technicalities and institutional apathy. The Verdict: The shareholders have spoken. The courts are being called. The facts are plain. Vision has not paid. The plan was not lawfully adopted. And Tongaat Hulett—along with its thousands of employees and legacy—deserves better than this. This isn't rescue. This is the slow-motion execution of a national asset. Roy Nzero is a small scale farmer in Jozini, KZN with a masters in agricultural science. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media. BUSINESS REPORT
