Investors of African Bank’s Hlumisa BEE scheme are anxious about the fate of their funds, as the collapsed African Bank waits for a financial lifeline from the Reserve Bank of South Africa.
Their anxiety has been heightened by the fact that the over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform will cease to exist on September 12 2014, in accordance with the new Financial Services Board (FSB) regulations governing listed BEE schemes.
Worse still, investors are worried that their shares might turn out to be worthless after an overhauled African Bank resumes business and trading on the JSE, at best, or that they might just have to write-off their capital, at worst.
Shedding light on Hlumisa’s status, African Bank curator, Price Waterhouse Coopers’ Tom Winterboer,stated: “Asthe Hlumisa shares are linked to the Abil shares, the trading in the Hlumisa shares was suspended after the trading in Abil shares was suspended on the JSE. Hence, the valuation of the Hlumisa shares cannot be determined at this stage as the value of these shares is linked to the valuation of the Abil shares.”