Aberfoyle rescue voted down

ABERFOYLE HOLDINGS, the Zimbabwean plantation company in administration after its shares were suspended at 2.5p in August, lurched towards liquidation yesterday when shareholders rejected restructuring proposals.

A company voluntary arrangement, which was proposed by administrators at Touche Ross and would have substantially diluted the shareholders' equity, failed to get the necessary 75 per cent approval. A creditor at the meeting said that the blocking vote was cast by Kojo Owusu-Nyantekyi, a Belgian dentist and former director of Aberfoyle.

The administrators now have to seek court guidance within four days, but creditors believe administration is unavoidable.

A former adviser to the company said: 'The likelihood of anything coming back to creditors is minuscule, but the likelihood of anything coming back to shareholders is non-existent.'