By Vernon Wessels
(Bloomberg) – Goldman Sachs Group and hedge fund Apollo Global Asset Management are among secured creditors with claims of R3.73bn ($218m) against Edcon Holdings, the failed South African retailer.
Administrators of the Johannesburg-based company are seeking buyers for Edcon chains Edgars and Jet as well as its loyalty program, Thank U.
The 91-year-old retailer collapsed after a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus halted almost all business. That caused the already struggling company to burn through cash, resulting in it being placed in a local form of bankruptcy protection at the end of April.
The company’s failure comes more than a year after lenders and landlords agreed to a restructuring of Edcon’s debt in the wake of a leveraged buyout by Bain Capital Private Equity in 2007 that turned sour.
AlbaCore Capital, a firm focusing on credit and private debt, is also among creditors on a list published by Edcon’s business-rescue practitioners on June 8. Here is a list of the biggest creditors:
Creditor | Claim Amount |
Unemployment Insurance Fund (via PIC) | R889m |
Apollo | R834m |
AlbaCore | R496m |
Standard Bank | R380m |
Absa | R311m |
Goldman Sachs Lending Partners | R174m |
Investec | R157m |
FirstRand’s Rand Merchant Bank | R129m |
Standard Chartered | R100m |
Deutsche Bank’s London branch | R84m |
Growthpoint Properties | R35m |
AustralianSuper | R34m |