The Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Derek Hanekom, welcomed the decision by the majority of SunSpace's creditors to accept the department's offer of R55 million for the institutions intellectual property and tangible assets.
This decision was recommended in a business rescue plan compiled by a practitioner appointed by the SunSpace Board.
The offer was made on the basis of an independent evaluation of SunSpace's intellectual property and tangible assets. The offer is in line with a Cabinet decision that the satellite manufacturing company be absorbed into the South African National Space Agency (SANSA). SANSA has entered into an agreement with Denel Dynamics to house the SunSpace capability.
As part of a process of absorbing SunSpace's capability within an appropriate entity, the company's employees have been offered employment in the new business unit, and most of them (more than 80%) have accepted the offer thus ensuring that key capabilities are retained. In this way, South Africa will retain the critical home-grown capacity developed by SunSpace.
The department anticipates that the absorption process will be completed by the end of this year.
The core capability of the satellite manufacturing unit will be used to develop and broaden a competitive satellite manufacturing industry in South Africa. The capability will be developed to serve the satellite development needs of the country and the rest of Africa, as well as other regions of the world.
Enquiries:
Tommy Makhode
Cell: 082 379 8268
