Judgement on the Western Province Rugby Union's application for liquidation was reserved in the Cape Town High Court on Monday.
WP filed court papers to liquidate its professional arm after facing a multi-million rand claim. But on Monday, Judge Ashley Binns-Ward reserved judgement on the application after Aerios put in a bid to prevent the liquidation from being granted to the beleaguered union. The court did, however, extend the provisional state of liquidation.
Aerios claims WP Rugby reneged on an advertising rights contract for exclusive rights to sell stadium space, to install Wifi and digitise Newlands in a multi-million rand development contract in exchange for content rights. The parties are now locked in a contractual dispute, with Aerios claiming WP’s sole intent through the liquidation is to get rid of them as one of its creditors.
According to Sport24, Aerios, through advocate Chris Eloff, told the judge they had not been approached to engage in R46-R48m worth of sponsorships, some of which were due to be secured in November. Eloff also assured the court that WP would continue to run as normal beyond the liquidation.
While Judge Binns-Ward reserved a ruling on the matter, he did not give a date for when he would announce the verdict.
Aerios CEO Coastas Constantinou told Sport24 that he was content with Monday's proceedings.
'The judge has got a lot to think about and I think we've given him that food for thought,' said Constantinou. 'We've done a good job with Western Province and we'd like to continue with that.'
Photo: Ziyaad Douglas/Gallo Images
