Nedbank wins multi-million rand court bid

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13-12-2011
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Moneyweb
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judge rules against pinnacle point holdings, david mostert et al.

johannesburg – property developer, pinnacle point holdings, david mostert, ivor stratford et al have failed to have several court summaries overturned.

on september 27, justice e steyn in a triple judgement ruled in favour of nedbank in each of the cases before the cape high court to the tune of r96m.

in the first matter between nedbank on the one hand and wedgewood village golf and country estate, pinnacle point holdings, the trustee of the clifton trust, the trustees of the ic stratford family trust, new port finance company (pty) ltd and david carl mostert on the other, the court ordered the defendants to repay nedbank’s r54.9m loan with interest and that the costs of both legal counsel.

in this matter the defendants sought to have the court’s summary judgement refused on the basis that a judgement cannot be granted on a claim of rectification, complaints of mala fides (bad faith) and an allegation that the loan term was extended by 12 months. issue was also raised on whether the defences are good in law, considering that there was an alleged potential counterclaim. the defendants claimed nedbank’s actions caused the principal debtors in these matters to be unable to repay the bank, which led to the pinnacle point group of companies (ppg) (which includes danger point and wedgewood) taking legal action against nedbank at the north gauteng high court.

the application was dismissed on all grounds raised.

in the second case between nedbank and david carl mostert and new port finance company (pty) ltd, judge steyn ordered that the defendants pay nedbank’s legal costs and the r10m they owe it with interest. the defendants owed nedbank the money for a loan that was taken for the development of romansbaai, in the western cape for which they were joint sureties on 25% of the debt.

in judge steyn’s final ruling, he ordered the trustees of the ic stratford family trust and the trustee of the clifton trust to pay nedbank r30.8m with interest and the cost of two counsel. this specific case also related to the development of romansbaai, both trusts were responsible for the remaining 75% of the debt owed to nedbank.

in july moneyweb reported that nedbank’s loans to pinnacle point had gone sour, leaving it with no option but to resort to legal methods to salvage its finances.

nedbank told moneyweb that it was collectively owed r95.6m for wedgewood village golf and country estate (r54.9) and danger point ecological development (r40.7m).

nedbank said the loans were advanced between three and five years ago, respectively, before pinnacle point was ailing.

monique vanek