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Johannesburg - Wellington transport company Slabbert Burger, one of the largest family businesses in the country, can keep its wheels rolling - for now - thanks to a rescue package from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).
Slabbert Burger is one of 11 companies that have received funding from the IDC since April in order to survive the financial crisis. In this period the IDC has awarded R753m to companies in difficulties owing to the crisis.
Martin Burger, one of the transport company's owners, says the business, which has big contracts with Arcelor Mittal and Columbus Stainless, among others, was already reeling under the impact of the downturn by October 2008. The industry had collapsed virtually overnight.
"The banks initially did not want to listen to us. We then responded to an IDC advertisement and applied for assistance," said Burger. A multimillion-rand loan was extended to Slabbert Burger by the IDC in August on "very reasonable terms".
Chevron, one of its creditors, last week applied to the Cape High Court to have the transport company, which employs about 1 300 workers, liquidated. Thanks to the intervention of the IDC the application was successfully opposed by other creditors, including Absa, Standard Bank, Wesbank, Investec, Nedbank, Engen and Imperial - to all of which "significantly more than R100m is owed".
Ebrahim Patel, the Minister of Economic Development, told Parliament last week that the IDC is currently processing 49 applications for finance.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.