Litha Healthcare: Debt restructured, R40m loan secured

Diversified health-care company Litha Healthcare has restructured its debt to avoid a potential breach of its repayment obligations after a difficult trading environment knocked its financial performance last year. The pharmaceutical and medical devices manufacturer said yesterday that FirstRand Bank had agreed to amend certain key terms of the two loan facilities it had with FirstRand unit Rand Merchant Bank. Further to restructuring its funding arrangements with FirstRand, Litha had secured a R40m loan from Paladin Labs, which was fully subordinated in favour of FirstRand. Paladin is Litha’s controlling shareholder, holding more than 70 percent of its ordinary shares. Litha said the debt restructuring would provide the necessary headroom to ensure that it complied with its financial obligations. Its shares closed unchanged at R2 yesterday. – Londiwe Buthelezi