No takers for Karina Textiles assets

An auction of assets belonging to the country’s sole manufacturer of knitting yarn, Karina Textiles, which was placed under provisional liquidation two years ago after failing to raise new investment, failed to take off with no takers for the equipment, the liquidator has said.

Theresa Grimmel has put the entire company asset base  under disposal, including land, buildings and machinery at  its Mutare factory; vehicles; the depot in Msasa and head office in Harare to raise funds to pay off creditors.

“There were three bids, none of which was high enough to be acceptable,” Theresa Grimmel, the liquidator said.

She said there were plans to hold another auction in May where they will dispose machinery, equipment and buildings separately to attract serious bidders.

“The machinery and equipment is now going to be removed from the buildings and auctioned separately – sometime in May – to give us time to ensure that the auction is well publicised,” she said.

“Thereafter we will attempt to sell or rent the buildings empty of machinery.  We believe that this will prove more successful as the machinery can be used in various industries and the buildings can be used for many different things.”

Workers, who are claiming nearly $590 000 will only be paid from the sale of immovable assets, she added.

“The claim from the workers will be dealt with in the normal way for liquidations. There is an order of payment set in law, which must be followed. The Karina property was mortgaged, so the proceeds from any sale of the land and buildings would first be applied to the mortgage holder,” she said.

Karina has been closed since January 2012 and was placed under provisional liquidation on June 13 the same year.

The Zimbabwe Textile Workers Union (ZTWU) opposed the order but lost the determination on November 28 the following year.

Some of the company’s assets were auctioned in December 2013, realising only $6 000.- The Source

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