These new alleged bids are being endorsed by a group of account-holders claiming to represent almost a quarter of the deposits left in the crippled bank. In the process they have temporarily blocked the South African Reserve Bank\u2019s (SARB) attempt to liquidate Habib and potentially hunt down misappropriated monies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The diverse collection of interested parties includes Satar Dada, a Botswanan magnate and parliamentarian who serves as the ruling Botswana Democratic party\u2019s treasurer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also in the running is Durban businessman Barlow Gonaseelan Govender, who claims to have the informal support of the Public Investment Corporation. The state-owned asset manager ignored a request for confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key figure in the profusion of (potential) bids is Yunus Paruk, a former director and shareholder at Al Baraka Bank in\u00a0South\u00a0Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In court papers the depositor group claims that Paruk became a go-between for the various interested parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of them is allegedly an anonymous suitor from Dubai represented by \u201cdeal maker\u201d Anwar Khan, who runs a \u201cboutique advisory firm\u201d called Adsum Capital Management in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Khan, incidentally, used to work for the Pakistani Habib Bank Limited, which is not affiliated to Habib in South Africa but was founded by members of the same extended family, which also has separate banking interests in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paruk was also the point of contact for the Botswanan Dada. According to the court papers the two are partners in a property business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A \u201cprominent business family from Limpopo\u201d is also interested, with an unnamed US investor in tow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And there is also allegedly a \u201cSaudi Arabia based consortium\u201d interested in buying Habib.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/diagram-1-742x1024.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe depositors have approached the court to force the provisional liquidator of Habib, Zeenath Kajee, to disclose detailed financial information so that all these potential buyers can conduct due diligence exercises before making actual offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This case is running in parallel to the group\u2019s opposition to the Prudential Authority\u2019s attempt to liquidate Habib. The PA is the division of SARB which regulates banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This new slate of potential buyers is not the first. The owners of Habib had in fact already entered into a sales agreement in November last year with a company called Shop2Shop which seems to have fallen by the wayside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200e While depositors understandably want to recover their money, the profusion of mostly anonymous \u2018white knights\u2019 raises some red flags:<\/p>\n
- \n
- First, Habib is in bad shape, requires immense amounts of money to resuscitate, and appears unsustainable \u2013 making it unclear why anyone would buy it other than to acquire a banking license;<\/li>\n
- Second, the fact that Habib\u2019s banking license has been abused in the past to facilitate money laundering; and<\/li>\n
- Third, the blanket anonymity surrounding most of the alleged suitors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Financial black hole<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Habib was placed under curatorship in March this year and the Prudential Authority subsequently applied to court to liquidate it after the curator concluded that the bank is \u201chopelessly insolvent\u201d and would require \u201cat a minimum\u201d R364-million just to meet regulatory requirements, much less actually operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And to operate, much more money would be needed to effectively overhaul the whole bank, which runs on inadequate systems and has an \u201cunsustainable\u201d business model, claims the central bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, that is before Habib tries to overcome its descent into infamy due to its association with money laundering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n