Sisa Ngebulana on Rebosis debt woes
Ngebulana says there’s a clear agenda to destroy black business success. By
Sisa Ngebulana believes Rebosis Property Fund, the real estate empire he founded and listed in 2011 on the JSE, is being unfairly targeted. Rebosis faces huge debt, a share price meltdown and investors who have turned against the company. But Ngebulana says Rebosis is not the only real estate company in SA going through a rough time. DM168 put some questions to Ngebulana about the plan to save Rebosis.
Q: Are you concerned about the future of Rebosis?
A: I think we are doing better than what many people assume. I sleep with peace; I am not too worried about Rebosis. We know where we are going and what we are planning. There is a deliberate strategy to paint the wrong picture about Rebosis.
Q: What do you think is the motive behind people painting “the wrong picture about Rebosis”?
A: There’s a clear agenda to destroy black business success. We celebrate tenderpreneurs in this country. We celebrate politicians with BEE deals as if it is a true black success, which it is not. There are a lot of entrepreneurs trying to succeed but being stopped. There is so much negativity perpetrated around them. They have no politics or banks to help them. In the JSE-listed space, it is far more manifest.
Q: Businessman Zunaid Moti has launched legal proceedings to sequestrate a family trust that you represent, claiming that it is insolvent. Moti claims the Amatolo Family Trust failed to make a payment of R125-million for Rebosis shares you bought from him in an off-market transaction. What’s your response?
A: This matter should go to court over the next six months. We’d rather let the courts deal with it.
Q: Last year, you engaged with investors to pay off Rebosis’s debt and delist
it from the JSE. Is this ongoing?
A: Times have been tough and concluding transactions in this volatile market is difficult. We hoped to close a transaction last year. Unfortunately, the Moti matter at the time messed up with the transaction.
Q: Does this mean the deal with potential investors has been scuppered?
A: We are now looking at a serious transaction. I don’t want to talk about it because we haven’t announced it to the market. We don’t want to make promises again and, if the terms and conditions of the transaction are not fulfilled, then we’ll look like idiots. We are talking to parties that are serious about acquiring some of our assets. It will resolve every problem at Rebosis in one shot.
Q: According to the 2020 Rebosis annual report, the company had more than R9-billion in short-term borrowings, mostly due in 2021 to commercial banks. Are you making headway to extend repayment terms?
A: Banks have all agreed to renew their debt facilities. Banks are happy with where we are going. We have financiers and banks that are supportive, and they have confidence in what I am doing at the company. I came back [as CEO of Rebosis in 2018] to stabilise the company. If I didn’t come back, this company would have blown up in flames.
Q: There have been concerns in the market that Rebosis is technically insolvent. Is that so?
A: The market is confusing the fact that our current liabilities (borrowings) expire within 12 months. Anything that expires within 12 months is treated under current liabilities, not longterm loans. We are not technically insolvent. Our assets are worth R13.2-billion and our debt is R9.6-billion. We have surplus cash on the balance sheet. The fact that the banks continue to roll out our debt facilities means that we have a good balance sheet.