Border Rugby reassures

THE article “Border Rugby Pty files for liquidation – bleak picture as liabilities R11m more than assets” (DD October 16) created a lot of confusion and was misleading.

It is a fact that the directors of Border Rugby (Pty) Ltd decided to put the company under voluntary liquidation. The reasons for this are stated in the papers and for the public to see. There is nothing to hide.

It is worth stating that all the governance processes towards arriving at the decision were followed and expert advice was engaged to assist the directors in arriving at what was an unavoidable decision.

It is worth noting too, that the trigger for the action was not a hostile creditor seeking to obtain monies due. It was instead, a voluntary action taken after careful consideration. Among the factors considered were, inter alia:

Unless there is private equity, in partnership with the union, the company is not a viable option;

Its existence in a situation where there is a single source of income serves no commercial or economic purpose because the union and company derive their income from a puny income. All it does is “to spread poverty”;

The union, after the breakdown of relations with its erstwhile private equity partner returned the functions that had been divested to the company. These were players, coaches and ground staff. Once this had been done, the purpose of the company ceased to exist;

In its life up to the point of the decision, it obviously incurred various costs. The union took responsibility for discharging the obligations to creditors and negotiated terms of payment to all identified and declared creditors;

We have declared the state of the company