Land Bank of South Africa Seeks Support For Split to Repay Debt
- State-owned lender to farmers defaulted on borrowings in 2020
- Firm to focus on development rather than commercial projects
Photographer: Dean Hutton/Bloomberg
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South Africa’s largest lender to farmers is asking creditors to approve a split of its operations in two to help repay debt over the next five years and claw its way out of a default position.
The state-owned Land & Agricultural Development Bank is proposing a reorganization into a corporate and commercial business and a separate one focused on development projects, it said in a presentation to lawmakers Tuesday. Cash proceeds from the former will go toward commercial borrowings before the unit is eventually wound down, it said.