Until October 3 at 2pm Ian Wyles Auctioneers is accepting offers to purchase a nationally well-known engineered hardboard and softboard manufacturing plant at Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal.
The property at 57 Broomcliff Road was the operating premises of Evowood (formerly Masonite), which shut in July this year and is now under voluntary liquidation.
The plight of the company made the news several times earlier this year, and Evowood is now again likely to come into the spotlight with its voluntary liquidation.
Established in Estcourt in 1948, the company became the biggest employer in the Midlands town.
Andrew Giddy, property manager at Ian Wyles, says the factory, which has its own rail siding, was one of the biggest engineered board producers in the southern hemisphere and its former name, Masonite, was virtually synonymous with hardboard and softboard products.
“The liquidation of this trading entity has placed a wide range of plant, equipment and vehicles on sale and the disposal of the assets has attracted national interest,” Giddy says.
Tenders are being invited for:
* The sale of the property as well as plant, equipment and vehicles.
* Lease of the property and the plant, equipment and vehicles.
* Sale of the plant, equipment and vehicles only.
* Sale of the 30.2ha plot which housed the plant.
The wide-ranging improvements of the plant include more than 16500m² of main factory and warehouse space, 12000m² space for kilns, more than 9500m² for finishing, 2900m² for coating, 4750m² for fabrication, and a dam of almost 5500m².
There is also a training centre, laboratory, and stores.
“The Evowood factory is ideally located for national sales and exports.
“Its major markets are located across South Africa and Australia so it is important it has easy access to the N3 to Gauteng, Free State and the port of Durban.
“The fact that it has its own rail siding is another major advantage,” Giddy says.
For more details about purchase proposals, call Val Naidu on 0315794403 or Kuban Naicker on 0826013883 or visit www.ianwyles.co.za.