Edcon
Cosatu calls on Ramaphosa to tighten business rescue legislation
The demand followed the failure of the Edcon business rescue plan after workers had poured R2 billion of their savings and the general low rate of success the...
Edcon, which owns the 91-year old department store chain Edgars, entered into a form of bankruptcy protection in April after a coronavirus-led lockdown hurt the already struggling finances of the company.
Edcon announced that it was going into business rescue in April. Its business rescue practitioners concluded last month that an 'accelerated sale' of some of its brands remained the only way for it to stay alive.
Edcon entered a process called business rescue after it failed to generate enough revenues as a coronavirus lockdown shut its stores across the country.
The PIC - which has R1.2 billion invested in the retail giant - has welcomed its proposed restructuring plan saying this was the best chance of saving jobs.
The approval paves the way for the administrators to finalise the sale process by the end of June to allow time for supplier negotiations and for summer stock to be purchased.
Kingsgate Clothing and Clematis Trading filed the urgent application in a bid to halt the adoption of Edcon's business rescue plan, which could see the group sold by July.
Ina desperate bid to save one of the country’s largest clothing retailers, 22,000 employees were served with retrenchment notices.
The retail company’s business rescue team said in order to save the retail giant from liquidation, staff numbers needed to be reduced as sale figures continued to tumble.
Administrators are seeking the sales of the retailer’s divisions as going concerns, according to details of the business rescue plan published late on Monday.
Edcon, which owns Edgars and Jet, entered business rescue proceedings after losing an estimated R2 million of sales due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The administrators told creditors that Edcon could be saved because it had 'valuable brands and market position that can possibly be preserved through business rescue'.
The group, which owns Jet and Edgars, wants to file for voluntary business rescue within the next few days in order to stay afloat.
The group, which owns Edgars and Jet, wants to file for voluntary business rescue within the next few days.
In a statement on Wednesday, the company said it had lost R2 billion in sales since the declaration of a state of national disaster over the COVID-19 outbreak in March.
Edcon has been under extreme financial pressure over the past few years.
Edcon CEO Grant Pattison said while the company has been in financial trouble for a long time, it’s already on track in closing a deal that will save the company.
Saftu's Zwelinzima Vavi says the country can't afford any more job losses.
Edcon says it plans to have the deal signed before Christmas and implement it early next year.