Case study

Driving sustained value through restructuring

Multidisciplinary PwC teams helped to rebuild trust by advising on the restructuring/refinancing of our client’s debt and providing treasury support.

As our client’s exclusive debt restructuring advisor, we brought a multidisciplinary team together to help preserve value.

^{_{Industry: Agribusiness

Services: Deals

Country: South Africa}}

Our client appointed the PwC Capital Advisory and Restructuring Services (CARS) team as its exclusive financial advisor over a two and a half year period to advise on the restructuring/refinancing of its debt and to provide general treasury support.

Through the implementation of financial management tools and ongoing advice over the past two and a half years, PwC has assisted the client with its treasury function and management of liquidity to support and enable improved operational performance. The client has since undertaken multiple turnaround initiatives, including the replacement of its management team, the implementation of firm-wide cost saving initiatives and the appointment of advisors. Debt facilities have been refinanced on a number of separate occasions, with the overall objective of progressing toward a more sustainable capital structure.

Client challenge

The client is an agri-processing business active in land management, property development and agriculture and produces a range of refined sugarcane based products, agricultural products and animal feeds in Southern Africa.

In recent years the client’s financial performance has been negatively impacted by accounting irregularities as well as ongoing operational challenges.
Consequently, profitability and cash flows have materially declined, resulting in an overgeared balance sheet and liquidity constraints in its multinational operations.

Our role has been to build trust and deliver sustained outcomes, and we have helped our client to progress towards a more sustainable capital structure through multiple turnaround, refinance and strategic initiatives that have preserved value for all stakeholders. Through the implementation of financial management tools and ongoing advice over the past two and a half years, PwC has assisted the client with its treasury function and management of liquidity to support and enable improved operational performance.

Approach

Our CARS team, together with multidisciplinary PwC experts from the region, provided services including:

valuation and impairment testing,
assistance in connection with going concern assessment,
technical accounting advice,
forensic services,
procurement services
JSE sponsor services and
Advisory services in relation to the disposal of assets.

Impact

The client has since undertaken multiple turnaround initiatives, including the replacement of its management team, the implementation of firm-wide cost saving initiatives and the appointment of advisors. Debt facilities have been refinanced on a number of separate occasions, with the overall objective of progressing toward a more sustainable capital structure.

"As the market leading practice in Africa, and as part of the largest Capital Advisory and Restructuring practice in the world, our highly experienced team provides support to clients across Africa, in raising and managing capital in the good times, or navigating through and out of distress, whether operational or balance sheet driven."