WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM:
DELAYS in organising the financial affairs of Transnet have forced Public Enterprises Minister Stella Sigcau to move the sale of 49% of South African Airways from October to the first quarter of 1999.
Business Day reports that the delay was caused, among other things, by difficulties in determining the pension requirements held by different divisions of Transnet.
Government had decided to fast-track SAA’s privatisation, and the airline was to have been floated a s a separate company last month, ahead of taking on a strategic equity partner in October. Separating SAA from Transnet has now been delayed until July.
Speaking at the Europe-South Africa forum in Hamburg, Sigcau firmly denied that the delay has any relation to the Asian crisis.
Speaking at the same forum, however, Transnet managing director Saki Macozoma said that East Asian banks are directly blocking the transfer of SAA’s R22-billion debt from Transnet, to a commerical airline company that was to have been registered by the end of June.
“We have a number of loans … bonds, direct loans, syndicated loans — and some of [them] have a clause in them that protects the banks from any restructuring of the group,” he said.
“We have to find a way to convince these banks that they will not be adversely affected by any restructuring,” he added.
In her speech, Sigcau defended the government’s decision to slow the pace of SAA’s privatisation, saying that it is important for government to ensure that it is selling its assets while they are in a good position to fend for themselves. The government believes that SAA is a “good, solid investment”, and is currently doing a lot to turn the company into a profit-making investment, she said.
Meanwhile, Andrews on Tuesday firmly rejected allegations that he had led former employer World Airways into a $35-million loss-making venture to provide scheduled passenger services in 1995 and 1996. Andrews claimed World Airways ceased to be under his “direct stewardship” in 1993, when another executive took over. Business Day reports, however, that filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission indicate that Andrews was head of World Airlines until March 1996, when he was replaced by Charles Pollard, and became chairman.