Absa has brought an urgent application in the High Court in Cape Town for an order to provisionally liquidate Mayfair Speculators, of which former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste was a director before his recent resignation. The application for unpaid debt of R226.3m plus interest will be heard on Friday. The other director of the Stellenbosch-based company is Stefanus Potgieter, the son-in-law of Jooste. Absa manager for business support Hester van Niekerk said in her founding affidavit in support of the application that Mayfair Speculators was unable to pay its debt of R226.3m to the bank. Absa had been informed that the company had liabilities of about R1bn and assets, if realised, of about R350m. Van Niekerk said Mayfair Speculators was “both technically and commercially insolvent due to the material deterioration in the its primary assets, namely the Steinhoff shares held by it”. She noted that in August, Mayfair Speculators had declared a dividend in specie to its sole shareholder...

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