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Tongaat Hulett's journey to recovery: new leadership and challenges ahead
Gavin Dalgleish was appointed as CEO with effect from 1 June 2025, marking a significant step in the final phase of implementing the approved Business Rescue Plan and setting the stage for a seamless transition of Tongaat Hulett's business, assets, and people to Vision, the consortium acquiring the group.
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Tawanda Karombo
Tongaat Hulett, the beleaguered South African agro-processing firm, is poised to emerge from the shadow of its tumultuous past, thanks to new leadership and a significant restructuring initiative.
Gavin Dalgleish, the company's new CEO, has expressed optimism about the path towards stability following a protracted period marked by scandals and heavy debt that once threatened its existence.
Dalgleish was appointed as CEO with effect from 1 June 2025, marking a significant step in the final phase of implementing the approved Business Rescue Plan and setting the stage for a seamless transition of Tongaat Hulett's business, assets, and people to Vision, the consortium acquiring the group.
In a recent interview, Dalgleish detailed the pivotal changes occurring at Tongaat Hulett, which has been under business rescue since an accounting scandal left it with debts exceeding R8 billion.
Following the acquisition by the Vision Group Consortium, led by seasoned African investors Robert Gumede and Rutenhuro Moyo, the company is now focusing on debt recovery, having recently settled its obligations with creditors.
'We need to restore the faith of our employees, we need to restore the faith of our creditors and all our stakeholders that we're now functioning as a business again, and we're a good place and a reliable partner to do business with,' Dalgleish told Business Report in an interview on Thursday.
Tongaat Hulett, however, will still be up against headwinds buffeting the South African and regional economic landscape. For example, upon exiting business rescue, the company will be up against rising imports of cheap sugar and currency volatility.
For Dalgleish, the company's recovery will not be quick paced. In fact, he expects the rest of this year to be tougher for Tongaat Hulett.
'Like any other business, we're facing headwinds of a strengthening rand, reduced world market prices of sugar, and imports that flow from that. So for South Africa we're expecting this year to be a slightly tougher year,' he said.
Tongaat and the Vision Group principals recently went on a roadshow to meet stakeholders in KwaZulu Natal, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. During those trips, the company explained to stakeholders the new approach to doing business.
Dalgleish said together with the Vision principals, the company had sought to 'win back their (stakeholders) trust' and confidence as investors and as a business.
Tongaat employs 2 400 people and 25 000 others across the extended value chain.
Dalgleish said he felt overwhelmed by the responsibility he carries on behalf of the employees, value chain stakeholders and others linked to the company. He said sustaining jobs for those employed and impacted by the company was a top priority under his leadership.
'I'm excited by the challenge and the opportunity, as I said, I'm pleased with the the resilience of the people and the business that we found. And because of the social economic impact of the business, I have a great sense of responsibility.'
After fully settling outstanding obligations to the company's lenders as of 9 May 2025, the finalisation of the asset transfer to Vision Group 'is expected imminently,' the company said at the beginning of this month, underscoring 'Tongaat Hulett's progress toward financial and operational' recovery.
Last year, creditors in Tongaat voted in favour of a business rescue plan put forward by Gumede's investment consortium, Vision.
This was after an accounting scandal rocked Tongaat Hulett, with the company tail-spinning into a debt of R8.2 billion, prompting shareholders to adopt an amended business rescue plan.
Tongaat Hulett is envisioned to continue playing critical roles in the economic fabric of Southern Africa under its new ownership.
In South Africa, the business 'remains a cornerstone of the sugar industry, sourcing cane from 15 000 small-scale growers – thereby sustaining local farming communities, and underpinning numerous rural economies,' especially in the KwaZulu-Natal province.
In Zimbabwe, Tongaat Hulett owns two operating businesses, Triangle and separately listed Hippo Valley Estates. Triangle said recently that it was facing operational challenges that had forced it to retrench employees after cost cutting measures failed to yield a respite.
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