eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
History of Border Timbers Limited dates back to the establishment of Stapleford Estates by the British South African Company (BSAC) in 1923 and what followed was a series of dynamics and changes in ownership.
The company majors in forestry, saw-milling and treated poles production.
Like any such timber plantation in Manicaland, Border Timbers, evolved in the middle of colonial realities more branded by an obsession with control and ownership of Zimbabwe’s land and natural resources.
Settler experiments founded the Eastern Highlands and Chimanimani to be ideal for soft timber production as compared to Marandellas (Marondera) and Macheke. What ensued was the disposition of inhabitants to confiscate the land. Three players in the practice were BSAC, Whattle Company and Lonrho. The Rhodesian state-owned companies like the Forestry Commission played ball.
The Forestry Management Services took possession of the first Imbeza plantations established by the British South African Police Company (BSAP Co) in 1924.
Border Estates were initially subsidiary to Lonrho, then a major owner of Southern African capital. Border Timbers Limited was incorporated in 1979 with the amalgamation of Border Eastern Forest Estates, Renfee Timbers Limited and Forestry Management Services.
As the land redistribution programme unfolded from 2000 and beyond to right-size white-owned farm estates and resettle locals, certain portions of Border Timbers’ hectares were designated for resettlement and some legal wrangles ensued.
Owing to the protracted dispute, the company was effectively put under judicial management in 2015. More to the scourge, the company got indebted to some local banks to the tune of about US$6 million. Fortunate enough, a year earlier in 2014, RBZ had instituted a special purpose vehicle, ZAMCO, to absorb non-performing loans. This vehicle came to Border Timbers’ rescue.
In 2018 Border Timbers applied for voluntary suspension from trading in shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange as it awaited the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to rule over a land dispute with stakeholders that included the Government. The dispute was pending since 2010.
The company currently seek exit from judicial management and negotiations for an egress are reportedly progressing well.
Notwithstanding a web of headwinds that include the recent scourge of Cyclone Idai that catalysed power outages at sawmills, the company had maintained positive growth in revenues. To echo this sentiment, the judicial manager Peter Lewis Bailey, had on two successive trading updates, been repeating the chorus, “Management continue to do an excellent job in difficult circumstances.”
Border Timbers is a member of Rift Valley Corporation (RVC) that constitute the latter’s non-core businesses together with Matanuska Bananas. Rift Valley Corporation’s subsidiaries include Rift Valley Energy, Rift Valley Tobacco, Rift Valley Agriculture and Non-core operations under which category Border Timbers falls.
Forestry estates include Charter, Tilbury and Sawerombe in Chimanimani and Imbeza and Sheba estates in Penalonga, Mutare. Two sawmills include Charter and Sheba with the former having been established in 1953 and now rated the largest and ultra- modern in Southern Africa. Pole treatment is done at the Nyakamete Plant in Mutare. All products are of both local and export quality.
Peter Lewis Bailey is the judicial manager, having been appointed by the High Court on May 2, 2015.
