David Whitehead exits judicial management
DAVID Whitehead Textiles Ltd (DWTL) has been removed from judicial management, nearly a decade after it was placed under the court sanctioned reconstruction process.
Last week, the High Court granted an order to remove the once vibrant textile giant from the judicial management and this paves way for resuscitation of the company by new investors.
The long hunt for an investor into David Whitehead Textiles ended in May 2019 after Agri Value Chain Zimbabwe (AVCZ) bought 51 percent of the company before raising its stake to about 72 percent after buying out some of the minority shareholders.
The order was granted last Friday.
The application to remove the company out of judicial management was lodged last year, but the progress stalled after some of the shareholders opposed the application.
However, the shareholders and the judicial manager Knowledge Hofisi entered into a deed of settlement recently, leading to the removal of the company from the eight year judicial management.
Zimbabwe is looking to reboot once the country’s flourishing textile industry under sector specific value chain strategies and the revival of DWTL is expected to give impetus to the country’s industrialisation agenda.
AVCZ has since indicated its intention to revive the company though modernising all its operations.
To support the sector specific value chain initiative, meant to create value added jobs, the Government, through the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is working on the Cotton to Clothing Strategy (CCS) expected to be finalised this year.
At primary level, the Government has been supporting cotton farmers with free inputs through the Presidential Inputs Scheme. However, the bulk of processed cotton, also known as lint, is exported due to low take off by the local textile industry.
AVCZ is already active in the cotton value chain and owns ginneries across the country. It is involved in the production of cooking oil and owns the largest edible oil plant in the country.
DWTL used to play an integral part in the entire cotton value chain system in Zimbabwe.
It was incorporated in 1951, with the name David Whitehead & Sons (Rhodesia) Limited.
However, it changed its name to David Whitehead Textiles Limited in 1979.
The company was registered on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in 1971. In 2002 Lonrho Africa disinvested from the textile industry in Zimbabwe and a DWTL management consortium, comprising senior managers, spearheaded the acquisition of 88 percent of the issued and fully subscribed ordinary share capital.
The acquisition was made through an investment vehicle called Guscole Investments.
Guscole Investments consisted of Edwin Chimanye, Ernest Chivaura, Ian Cripps, George Maulidi, John James Fergusson, Oliver Gwaku and Ms Daphne Ritson.
In 2005, DW was suspended from the ZSE after failing to produce audited financials and regularising its shareholding structure in conformity with the listing requirements.
Since then, the company remained largely under judicial management.-The Herald
