Quote Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
This one comes down to the character of the people. On the evidence so far, there is no security. If they want to run with the money, there's not much to stop them other than their conscience.
I reckon that the people who are involved are planning on sticking around, rather than some other shenanigans (personal opinion). They are sitting on a farm in Wellington which probably has a pretty big value (bigger than the amount involved).

What is really interesting is the relationship with their clients. Think about how this would normally go down. Upstream company owing a big chunk of change goes poof. All the downstream companies sit with a huge debtors book. They have a couple of options: go bankrupt, ask investors for money, ask the bank for money.

Now in this situation Stormhoek has built a whole lot of good will with their clients, who are willing to give them bridging finance. Not because it is a good investment, but because they love the product and want to keep it alive.

The internet changes things.