(Reuters) – South Africa’s Land Bank is working on a new debt restructuring plan that it hopes will be finalised by the end of September, the National Treasury said on Wednesday.
The state-owned agricultural bank defaulted on its debt in April 2020 and missed a restructuring deadline in March 2021. It has so far failed to agree a “liability solution” to emerge from default.
“The last version of the liability solution was rejected by lenders. The board is currently developing a new liability solution which is planned to be concluded and implemented by 30 September 2022,” the Treasury said in a presentation to parliament.
It said the finance minister had appointed a new board of directors at the bank in December and that the process of recruiting a permanent chief executive was under way after the previous CEO left the company in April.
The 7 billion rand ($451.34 million) bailout allocated to the Land Bank in last year’s budget would not be transferred until the bank and its lenders agree on the debt restructuring plan, the Treasury said.
($1 = 15.5093 rand)
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Alexander Winning and Barbara Lewis)
