POLITICS

Former New Age newspaper offices to be auctioned

Property described as 'prime warehouses with offices and movable assets'

Former Gupta newspaper offices to be auctioned

21 November 2018

The offices that formerly housed the Gupta-owned The New Age newspaper have been put up for auction.

The property will be auctioned by Park Village Auctions on November 28 at 10:30.

It is described as "prime warehouses with offices and movable assets".

"Three semi-detached warehouse buildings, each with own double-storey offices comprising reception, kitchen, cloakrooms, private offices, boardroom and open-plan office areas," the advertisement states.

The auctioneer said the buildings have ample staff and customer parking and are ideal for a single tenant or three individual tenants.

According to The Star, the building could fetch as much as R35m.

The moveable assets that will be sold directly after the buildings include cameras, computers, laptops, desks, couches, photocopiers, TVs and kitchen equipment, among other things.

The New Age and TV station ANN7 were initially operated by a Gupta-owned company, Oakbay Investments.

In August last year, a firm owned by former government spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi bought ANN7 and The New Age.

The sale came as the Bank of Baroda pulled its plug on Gupta-owned firms, and after South Africa's top four banks blacklisted the group's accounts in 2016.

Renamed Afro Worldview and AfroVoice, the news entities had both been closed down by August this year.

News24