- Liquidation temporarily halted
- Shareholders racing against time to raise over P100m
- BluThorn failed to re-capitalise before
KEABETSWE NEWEL
In a desperate attempt to save their company from liquidation and total shutdown, shareholders of insolvent investment management company, BluThorn Fund Managers (BFM) (Pty) Ltd, have successfully importuned the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) for one more chance to recapitalise properly.
The goal is to raise P100 million in an instant.
NBFIRA has given them just a few weeks to re-capitalise the struggling firm, failing which liquidation will proceed.
However, details of the breather are scanty because the Corporate Communications Manager at NBFIRA, Boa Chomba, says the regulator is not in a position to discuss them because the matter is still before the courts. The Botswana Gazette had asked NBFIRA whether it had indeed granted Bluthorn Fund Managers a chance to re-capitalise temporarily halted liquidation of the company. At Bluthorn itself, the chief executive Joseph Mosimane said they could only comment once the company had been removed from the statutory management. Peter Collins, the Statutory Manager, similarly declined to comment.
A fortnight ago, NBFIRA, acting on the recommendation of the Statutory Manager, applied to the High Court for liquidation of BluThorn Fund Managers (Pty) Ltd. At that time, NBFIRA said the application for liquidation was made after it was found that BluThorn was insolvent.
NBFIRA said BluThorn’s audited financial statements of February 2018 had revealed that the company was insolvent because its liabilities exceeded its assets and the Authority requested BluThorn to recapitalise accordingly. According to NBFIRA, BluThorn did recapitalise shortly thereafter. However, a subsequent on-site inspection by the Authority revealed that the company had not recapitalised appropriately. The decision is reportedly what led to the application for liquidation.