Sale of subsidiary saves 500 jobs at Group Five

Moneyweb

About 500 jobs have been saved by the sale of Group Five Projects – a subsidiary of Group Five Construction, which is in business rescue – to the Mauritian-based Teichmann Group for an undisclosed amount.

Peter van den Steen and Dave Lake, Group Five’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs), announced the disposal on Monday and indicated about 500 jobs would be transferred to the new owners and saved.

They said these employees were mainly African-based and comprised a combination of permanent employees and contractors.

The BRPs added the transaction included various of Group Five’s African construction businesses that were leaders in structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and piping construction throughout Africa.

They said the purchase comprised all of Group Five Projects’ assets, including the construction plant and equipment in these locations. However, they said an existing construction project on a mine in Zambia would still be completed by Group Five, as would a further project in South Africa.

“The new entity will be branded as T3 Projects. The team’s track record in Africa has ensured the delivery of construction projects in the mining and industrial sectors across the continent, which will complement the Teichmann Group’s existing product offering,” they said.

Group Five Projects was one of 38 assets and properties identified for sale in Group Five Construction’s business rescue plan.

Attempts to obtain comment from the Teichmann Group were unsuccessful.

The BRPs also declined to comment on the number of Group Five Construction assets sold to date and the total amount received for them, adding this information would be provided soon.

The BRPs confirmed that all other assets, financial or otherwise, of the company were being vigorously pursued and disposed of in controlled disposal processes.

Although they indicated that certain of these sales processes included complex sales of international assets and regulatory procedures and approvals that were outside of the control of the BRPs, they anticipated completing most sales by the end of March.

Group Five Limited and Group Five Construction, its main operating subsidiary, decided in March this year to voluntarily apply to be placed in business rescue and for trading in the group’s shares on the JSE to be suspended.