Johannesburg - Almost six months after being ordered to
settle a R22.5m loan from RMB Private Bank, top businessman Lazarus Zim and his
Pinnacle Point Group [JSE:PNG] partners still have not paid up in full.
The Western Cape High Court has granted RMB Private Bank, a
division of FNB, an order to sell Pinnacle Point's 45-hectare, R100m Wesselheim
Estate in Bethlehem, Free State.
Pinnacle Point and its directors have so far only paid part
of the debt.
The estate, on which nothing was built, will go under the
hammer next Friday.
A highly placed source told City Press that the bond on the
property was R10m but the proceeds would not be sufficient to settle the entire
judgment and costs.
City Press can confirm that Pinnacle Point Lodge in Mossel
Bay will also go on auction in the new year.
In June, Judge Anton Veldhuizen ordered the troubled
Pinnacle Point, its chairperson Ivor Stratford, and his trust and associate
companies to pay R19.1m plus an 11% yearly interest from December last year.
Telkom chairperson Zim; his business partner, Ragavan
Moonsamy; and Pinnacle Point Holdings directors David Mostert and Mervyn Key;
were also ordered to pay R500 000, for which they signed surety agreements with
the bank.
In his capacity as Pinnacle Point chairperson at the time,
Zim signed surety for the loan, together with 12 other directors and associate
companies.
He has since resigned from Pinnacle Point.
However, Zim's Afripalm owns 30% of Unipalm, which was part
of a consortium that acquired a 26% stake in Pinnacle Point.
Moonsamy is managing director of Unipalm Investment
Holdings, of which Zim is a former director.
Veldhuizen found that Wesselheim Estate was "executable",
which meant RMB could sell the property to recover its debt.
Pinnacle Point failed to meet its monthly loan repayments
leading to RMB's lawsuit.
In court papers, RMB indicated that Zim, Moonsamy, Mostert
and Key were notified that they were being held liable for payment.
However, the businessmen argued the loan agreement, which
stated the money was payable on demand, was replaced by one stating the loan
was payable over three years.
Their argument was dismissed by Judge Veldhuizen.
At the time, Pinnacle Point chief executive Sibusiso Gamede
told City Press that he could still turn around the company.
It had assets worth R1.8bn compared with its liabilities, a
total of about R250m it owes banks and other creditors, according to Gamede.
Zim and the directors could not be reached for comment.
- City Press