A cash settlement with former Gupta business associate’s Templar Capital and Liberty Coal has the backing of creditors, labour and business rescuers. A cash settlement with former Gupta business associates Templar Capital and Liberty Coal has the backing of creditors, labour and business rescuers.
Ajay, left, and Atul Gupta. | Optimum Colliery, owned by Glencore, which supplies coal to Eskom’s Hendrina power station, top, in Middelburg, Mpumalanga.
It will also settle two forfeiture applications, one involving Optimum Coal Mine and Optimum Coal Terminal, and another in respect of a R1.3-billion creditor claim that allowed Liberty to acquire OCM from business rescue through a debt swap deal. It is aimed at preserving the value of the mine and related assets and safeguarding hundreds, if not thousands of jobs, she says.The parties have recorded an agreement of undisputed facts relating to the proceeds of crime that inform the forfeiture settlement, which are:
In the Optimum case, money deemed to be the proceeds of crime is listed as Eskom’s R660-million prepayment used towards the Gupta purchase of Optimum as well as Bank of Baroda fixed deposits that were held by Trillian Capital Management and Albatime, and which were used as security for loans towards it.
It is opting for the forfeiture settlement because this process has been slow and is by no means certain and delays would severely impact the value of the preserved assets.The Gupta family’s most prized asset in South Africa, Optimum Coal Mine and Optimum Coal Terminal , have been the subject of Of this, R100-million is to be paid to an independent administrator for distribution to qualifying creditors immediately upon a forfeiture order being issued by the high court, while the balance of R361-million will be released to the administrator in deferred monthly payments of R14.5-million, also for the benefit of creditors.
The settlement, Rabaji-Rasethaba says, allows for a speedy resolution that would realise the full value of the Optimum assets before they are further dissipated or lost for reasons beyond the control of any of the parties involved. The export of, typically, higher grade coal via these slots is vital to the profitability of Optimum Coal Mine and its continued existence, says Bester.
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