by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa's largest cinema group Ster-Kinekor has exited business rescue after an injection of R250 million from two asset manager firms, Blantyre Capital in the United Kingdom and Greenpoint Capital in South Africa, saving 800 jobs.
Ster-Kinekor entered business rescue in January 2021 after the company which has around 65% market share, had to shutter its cinema business due to the government's lockdown regulations to try and combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lease agreements have now been renegotiated with the various landlords which were a condition for the conclusion of the transaction.
"We are very pleased that we were able to raise the necessary capital to rescue
Ster Kinekor," says Stefan Smyth, Sterk-Kinekor's business rescue practitioner.
"Not only does this investment give the business a solid
foundation on which to build its future, but it has also meant that some 800 jobs have been retained and a dividend has been paid
to creditors as proposed in the accepted plan."
According to Smyth, South Africa's cinema attendance is picking up since the excellent box office performance of Top Gun: Maverick, which he says is expected to improve further into the upcoming holiday season with films like Avatar: The Way of Water and Black Panther 2.
"The brand new V&A 13 screen
cinema in Cape Town continues to perform well since its launch during business rescue and is expected to continue its upward trajectory with the recent
addition of the latest technology IMAX plus Kids, Prestige and D-box offering
in."
"We thank all the Ster-Kinekor
employees, creditors and relevant stakeholders and new shareholders whose
efforts assisted us in exiting business rescue and creating a foundation for
its future. Our thanks also go to our loyal customer following and we
look forward to entertaining you with new formats and great new content in the
future."
