Banks to file for RioZim to be placed under provisional judicial management

Banks owed by RioZim will soon file for the company to be placed under provisional judicial management, after querying the proposed conversion rate of a debt-to-equity swap deal proposed by the company, Budinessdigest reported.

If RioZim is placed under judicial management, its current board of directors would be replaced by an appointed judicial manager whose task is resuscitating the company.

One of the creditor banks said the financial institutions did not want to be long-term shareholders or debt holders in RioZim, since the amounts owed by the company were depositors' funds.

Should the courts grant the order, the current RioZim management led by MD Josh Sachikonye would lose control of day-to-day affairs of the company.

Sachikonye this week brushed off any possibility of the company being placed under judicial management, saying banks would have to wait for the outcome of the EGM slated for next week.

"That is rubbish. We are not going under judicial management. Wait for the outcome of the EGM next week," said Sachikonye.

Old Mutual, a major shareholder in RioZim, said they were not aware of the lenders' intentions to file for judicial management.