Car parts retailer AutoZone, with a network of 214 wholly-owned retail branches and 33 member-owned franchise branches across Southern Africa, including in South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, and Botswana, is facing foreclosure.
This has emerged after it was reported that the business, founded in 1980, will no longer receive any extension to the credit facility it has with Absa Bank.
AutoZone entered a process of business rescue after failing to deal with mounting debt.
The company and its staff complement of 1450 has always relied on managing credit made possible through an equity deal struck in 2014.
But South Africa’s sluggish economy, the impact of Covid-19, civil unrest and stagflation has kept the company on the ropes.
Although Absa initially agreed to recapitalise the ailing business, the bank has now pulled the plug on AutoZone’s line of credit.
