'Bad lending book' to remain with Abil

African Bank Investments Limited (ABL‚ Abil) said on Wednesday, 10 December 2014, that its curator has decided that the "bad lending book" will remain with Abil after the purchase of core lending assets by the "good bank".

Abil was placed under curatorship by the Reserve Bank in August following the collapse of its share price. Its shares were subsequently suspended.

The central bank said at the time that the "good lending book" of R26bn would be recapitalised by R10bn through a consortium of the major banks and the "bad book" of R17bn would be bought by the Reserve Bank for R7bn with collection on the bad book set to continue.

Abil said on Wednesday the good bank would be registered and a wholly owned subsidiary of a newly established holding company‚ HoldCo‚ would be listed on the JSE in "due course".

Curator Tom Winterboer said it was previously intended to conclude the restructuring exercise during the first quarter of 2015.

"While there has been significant progress made to date‚ the need to receive the regulatory approvals prior to the transfer of assets to good bank and the expected implementation and consent process means that it is more likely that the restructuring of African Bank will be completed after the first quarter of 2015."

The unsecured lender said that since the curatorship its lending risk criteria had been tightened‚ taking into account its circumstances and the broader economic situation in SA.

Source: BDpro via I-Net Bridge