Debt may cost tycoon his palazzo
● Five missed payment instalments might cost a wealthy businessman his mansion in one of SA’s most sought-after spots.
Lloyd Pengilly’s home on Nettleton Ridge in Clifton, Cape Town — which boasts sweeping views of the beaches below and the Twelve Apostles mountain range — has had rave reviews since it was built. It has been described as SA’s “architectural masterpiece”.
It has four floors, a spa, a cinema and an entertainment pavilion accessible only by elevator. The London Economic said in 2018: “The interiors are inspired by Californian minimalism from the 1960s but updated so it’s almost futuristic in feel.”
The future of the Peerutin-designed property is in the balance after Nedbank started questioning Pengilly about his company’s failure to pay five instalments of more than R1m each.
A flurry of correspondence, in all of which the former JPMorgan Africa chair promised to pay up, culminated in the bank mounting a legal challenge to liquidate his company in the high court in Cape Town in January. Nedbank is suing Pengilly’s company, Great Force Investments 205, which owns the home.
The court granted Nedbank a provisional windingup order on January 31 and placed the company in the hands of the master of the high court.
In court papers, Dana van Zyl, Nedbank’s legal advice and litigation manager, said Pengilly’s company had applied for the loan in 2016. Van Zyl visited Pengilly, “the controlling mind”, at his property to talk about the increasing debt.
“Mr Pengilly indicated that the full balance owing to Nedbank will be settled from a facility that was soon to be granted to [him] by Standard Bank,” Van Zyl said in an affidavit.
“He furthermore indicated that in the event that the Standard Bank facility does not proceed or is unduly delayed, he will introduce funds into South Africa from abroad to pay the interest instalment that fell due on November 1 2019.”
However, this failed and Nedbank instituted court action. “To date [Nedbank] has not received payment of the arrear annual instalment herein, which instalment is due, owing and payable,” Van Zyl said.
“As a result, it became apparent that the arrear amount would continue to increase exponentially and the [company] could not pay the instalment (or the additional interest, which accrued on a daily basis).”
In January the court gave Pengilly’s company until Friday to demonstrate why the order should not be made “a final order of liquidation”. The matter was on the court roll on Friday but was postponed to March 20 “for settlement”.
Announcing Pengilly’s appointment as a senior adviser in October, British mining investment company Critical Metals said he was a Royal School of Mines graduate and former underground manager at Anglo American’s Western Deep Mine.