Online Reporter
Business Reporter
BETA Holding, one of Zimbabwe’s largest brick-making companies, has faced another significant blow after the Mutapa Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, reportedly withdrew its offer to invest in the company.
This marks the fifth potential investor to pull out, fuelling speculation that the company’s operational and financial troubles may be far more severe than initially understood.
Sources familiar with the developments, who requested anonymity due to protocol issues, confirmed that Mutapa had made an official offer to invest in Beta Holdings, which is under voluntary corporate rescue.
However, the sovereign wealth fund abruptly withdrew its offer without providing any reasons. “Mutapa has shown interest, but we were shocked by their abrupt withdrawal,” one source said.
Efforts to obtain comments from Mutapa and Beta’s business rescue practitioner, Mr Tinashe Rwodzi, were unsuccessful at the time of reporting.
Beta Holdings entered voluntary business rescue in December last year due to severe operational and financial challenges, which led to accumulating debts and a failure to deliver pre-paid bricks and concrete tiles to customers.
The repeated withdrawals of potential investors highlight the deep-seated issues plaguing the company, casting uncertainty on its future
The corporate rescue initiative seeks to establish the necessary time and framework to overhaul the company’s operations and finances, ultimately ensuring its long-term viability and its capacity to fulfil obligations to creditors, including customers awaiting pre-paid orders.
According to the latest report on the company’s debts, Beta owes about USS$8,7 million to clients for pre-paid orders of bricks, roofing tiles and aggregates.
FBC Bank is the largest single creditor, with a total outstanding amount of approximately US$10 million
As the sole secured creditor, FBC was scheduled to receive full repayment of US$4 million by the end of May 2025, according to the initial plan.
The remaining debt was to be settled over four years, following a three-month moratorium.
Preferential creditors, primarily employees, are owed approximately US$1,2 million and ZWG1,23 million.
Among statutory bodies, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) is owed the largest sum of US$1,26 million and ZiG279 537.
Concurrent creditors, including trade and other suppliers, are owed US$4,4 million and ZWG453 972. Power utility Zesa was scheduled to receive full payment of its outstanding balance by the end of May 2025.
Other concurrent creditors were to receive 25 percent of the owed value by the end of May 2025, with subsequent ZiG balances cleared over three months and US dollar balances over 24 months.
