Group Five gets ready to de-list from the JSE

CAPE TOWN – Group Five, a former giant in the South African construction industry, is planning to de-list from the JSE next month after 46 years on the bourse.

The company, which had been struggling for years due to the weak economy and declining government infrastructure investment, finally threw in the towel yesterday after going into business rescue last September. Group Five suspended the trading of its shares in March last year. Other large listed construction groups to go into liquidation or business rescue for the same reasons include Basil Read and Esor.

Group Five listed on the JSE in 1974 and helped to build the King Shaka airport, the Moses Mabhida Stadium, the Durban/Johannesburg fuel pipeline, large sections of the N1, N2 and N4 highways, the head offices of Nedbank and Cell C, and many other landmark civil engineering and construction projects in the country.

Business rescue practitioners Dave Lake and Peter van Steen said yesterday that there was very little chance of “any realistic prospect of there being any residual value available for or attributable to shareholders and, consequently, the issued shares of the company have no value”.

In addition, Group Five no longer complied with the JSE’s listings requirements in various respects, such as not having a board, board committees, prescribed capital or recent audited financial statements.