PIC bidding for firm owned by the Guptas

THE Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is one of the leading entities bidding for the acquisition of the Gupta-owned armoured vehicles producing company, which has filed for liquidation.

The PIC lodged the bid to purchase VR Laser – which has a R700 million contract with Denel to supply the South African National Defence Force with armoured vehicles – following the company’s decision to wind up its operations.

The PIC-led consortium also includes two Geneva-based hedge funds which specialise in the acquisition of distressed assets and an advanced manufacturer of electronics and electromechanical components and subsystems for military and aerospace applications, as well as Thata uBeke Manufacturing, owned by Ntokozo Sabelo.

Their consortium is known as Crede Capital. This was revealed by metalworkers’ union Numsa in their urgent high court application in Joburg to prevent the Gupta-owned company from selling their highly sophisticated equipments through a public auction on Thursday.

Numsa has lodged an application against the Guptas and former president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane from selling the equipment because they own shares in VR Laser.

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim made the urgent interdict application, and the matter is expected to be heard tomorrow.

Prior to the decision to auction the equipment, the company retrenched 146 of its highly skilled employees in July this year.

Duduzane Zuma and Rajesh Gupta, through their Graysure Investments, have a 25% shareholding in VR Laser, while the Gupta family, through their company Aerohaven Trading, have 10% of the shares in VR Laser.

Another controversial Guptas’ partner, Salim Essa, and Mbangela Investments have a 65% shareholding in VR Laser.

VR Laser’s directors, Essa and Pushpaveni Govender, filed for business rescue, claiming that their decision was prompted by commercial banks which stopped providing banking services to them.

They then appointed business rescue practitioners Robert Kurt Knoop and Johan Louis Klopper to go ahead with the auction of their equipment.

Numsa wants the court to set aside the auction and to force the rescue practitioners to consider the consortium Crede Capital’s offer to purchase VR Laser.

Jim said Crede Capital had offered to settle a bill of R346.7 million owed to creditors and to retain the workers’ jobs.

Detailing reasons to stall the auction, Jim argues that VR Laser’s factory, which comprises the plant and machinery, was the only facility in the southern hemisphere that is capable of building sophisticated armoured vehicles such as the Finnish-designed Badger armoured vehicle.

He said some of the 146 employees received training from Finnish arms manufacturer Patria PLC, which accredited them and VR Laser to build the Badger armoured vehicles.

“These are uniquely skilled employees. No other arms producer in South Africa has a workforce with this level of training and accreditation,” Jim said.

He is asking the court to force the business rescue practitioners to convene a meeting with creditors and to table the offer to them.