Business Rescue: Are Your Suretyships Enforceable? A R5.5m Lesson for Directors and Creditors

Business Rescue: Are Your Suretyships Enforceable? A R5.5m Lesson for Directors and Creditors

When a company goes into business rescue, creditors are often in for a beating. So as a creditor, if you had the foresight to cover your position upfront with personal suretyships from individuals with assets (normally the directors of the debtor company), you will no doubt be keen to recoup your losses by calling in those suretyships asap. What happens though if you assent to a business rescue plan whereby the debtor company’s debt to you is extinguished? Does that also extinguish the surety’s personal liability to you? Let’s have a look at the lessons for both creditors and directors…
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Business Rescue – Is it too late after liquidation? The Supreme Court of Appeal speaks

An important new SCA (Supreme Court of Appeal) decision recently addressed the following scenario - A close corporation runs a business renting out its commercial properties. The properties are bonded to a bank. The close corporation was placed into final liquidation by the High Court despite contending that it should rather be placed under business rescue. 5 months later it applied again for business rescue, but the High Court concluded that once a final liquidation is granted against a company (the same business rescue provisions apply to close corporations as to companies), it is too late to apply for business…
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