Business rescue is a thriving cottage industry in South Africa’s peculiar insolvency ecosystem. It is often mentioned but little understood — just like the largely opaque role of the business rescue practitioners (BRPs).
For some, a BRP is an architect of comebacks. For others, the BRP is an overcompensated empty suit with a licence to kill. This enigmatic, fast-growing and rarely celebrated profession turns 15 this year and is still at pains to define itself. It also needs to dispel the notion that BRPs romp through a legally blurred Wild West with reckless abandon.
Until Chapter 6 of the Companies Act created the concept and practice of business rescue, closure of a bankrupt private or listed company was swift and ruthless. A failed…