Court interdict may stymie bid

MARKUS Jooste’s Mayfair Holdings will probably not have time to sell its consumer goods unit by the December deadline laid down by creditors if the High Court in Johannesburg interdicts the process at this point, Jooste’s investment company said.

Mayfair is trying to sell Lodestone Brands to help it repay loans backed by now-collapsed Steinhoff shares.

But the founders of Lodestone’s three underlying firms, who are also minority shareholders of Lodestone, have gone to court in a bid to stop Mayfair and Standard Bank, the appointed investment bank, from going ahead with the sale. Judgment was reserved on Friday.