Bleak outlook for creditors as Sails is officially liquidated

The burial went largely
unnoticed, orations few, as SA
Independent Liner Services
(Sails), the ambitious South
African-inspired dream to trade
effectively between Europe and
Africa in the face of heavyweight
competition, was officially
liquidated in the Cape High Court
on December 1.
FTW, more so than any
other publication, has faithfully
recorded the symptoms, diagnosis
and demise of Sails after a scant
few years, the post-liquidation
process being more difficult than
meets the eye.
Darusha Moodliar, an
insolvency specialist and director
of Cape Town-based Sanek Trust
Recovery Services, readily admits
the Sails winding up is one of the
most difficult she has had to deal
with in 22 years of practice.
“This was not easy, lots
of cross-border insolvencies,
maritime laws and the fact
that some debtors are based
overseas.”
Final liquidation of a company
does not mean it’s over and done
with.
“The Master of the Cape High
Court has convened a meeting
in Cape Town on January 29 to
gather creditors’ claims, but the
prospect of a dividend to them
appears unlikely at this stage.”
She says a ‘danger for
contribution’ (rather than a
dividend) would seem to be on
the cards, indicative that costs
already occurred in the winding
up process exceed monies already
collected.
“So there will be a shortfall
and it seems creditors will have
to pay in, rather than collect.”
Sails has no assets apart from
a debtor book. Sanek has
managed to recover a total of
R1.4 million, from an initial
R300 000, each debtor dispute
being assessed on merit.
The result of a top-level, twomonth
audit into the company’s
affairs is likely to be released at
the end of this month.
Moodliar also points out that
any monies due to Sars will be
secondary to those of the 12 or
so Sails employees, followed by
claims by concurrent creditors of
which Lonrho tops the list.
With a stake of around 8% in
Sails, founder Ian Wicks is one
of the largest shareholders (aside
from Lonrho) but has already
made clear to FTW he will be not
be seeking any such relief, aside
from overdue employee-related
monies.
Sanek received an approach
to acquire Sails from a Durbanbased
BEE concern well before
the company’s winding up but
Moodliar says she has neither had
the time to follow up nor had any
further contact from the party.
She says it is not uncommon in
insolvency terms for an approach
to buy a liquidated company for
the purpose of gaining from the
‘assessed loss’.
“In order to benefit, one has
to acquire a company with its
assets, which would include the
debt book.”