Liquid Intelligent Technologies sidesteps questions about financial stability
Cassava Technologies has avoided directly answering whether the financial situation of its subsidiary Liquid Intelligent Technologies has stabilised.
Instead, Hardy Pemhiwa, president and group CEO of Cassava Technologies, said the company has strengthened its balance sheet through new equity injections and refinancing.
MyBroadband asked Liquid whether its financial position was now stable following a major debt refinancing. The company also began offering voluntary severance to South African employees this week.
Pemhiwa said Liquid had received $170 million (R2.8 billion) in cumulative equity investments from Cassava since December 2024.
“Liquid has also deleveraged its balance sheet, having repaid its outstanding rand-denominated term loans at the end of February 2026,” said Pemhiwa.
“Liquid concluded the refinancing of its existing dollar-based Eurobond, replacing it with a smaller Eurobond of $300m, which was oversubscribed 2.5×.”
Pemhiwa said ratings agencies had recognised the improvement in Liquid’s financial position following its refinancing and balance sheet measures.
“As external validation for Liquid’s financial strength, Moody’s and Fitch have both upgraded Liquid’s issuer rating,” he said.
He said Fitch had upgraded Liquid to B- from CCC+, while Moody’s rating was on watch for a positive upgrade into the single-B category.
Cassava did not give a direct yes-or-no answer when asked whether Liquid’s financial position was stable, nor did it state the next step in the refinancing plan.
Regarding its strategy for the year ahead, Pemhiwa explained that the entire group was implementing the “One Cassava” strategy.
This brings together Cassava’s connectivity, cloud, cybersecurity, colocation, compute AI and payments services as an ecosystem to respond to the needs of its enterprise and SME clients.
“The One Cassava ecosystem is the most comprehensive suite of digital solutions provided by one company across Africa,” he said.
“It leverages Cassava’s continental digital infrastructure and global partnerships with Microsoft, Google, NVIDIA, Anthropic, AWS, and Meta, amongst others.”
Retrenchments at Liquid South Africa
Amid its financial troubles, Liquid South Africa has launched voluntary severance and early retirement packages for employees, with applications open from 13 to 24 April 2026.
Liquid Intelligent Technologies South Africa told employees the process formed part of broader changes linked to the One Cassava strategy.
“The rapid evolution and integration of digital technologies in the ICT sector are fuelling increasing competition and mandating rapid, effective strategic reforms for businesses,” it said.
Cassava said businesses such as itself must generate and sustain growth while creating value for stakeholders in a dynamic environment.
The company said its strategic vision was to become the leading digital solutions provider in its chosen markets, which required consolidating its operating model.
“In implementing the ‘One Cassava’ model, the company foresees the possibility of duplications and redundancies in certain job functions,” it told staff.
The company said the new strategic direction included realigning internal structures, eliminating duplication, improving efficiency, and refreshing its skills base.
Liquid said the voluntary severance and early retirement packages were intended to mitigate the need for a Section 189 retrenchment process, or at least reduce the number of employees affected.
“These options are intended to provide employees with alternative exit pathways where appropriate, and minimise the number of employees likely to be impacted,” it said.
This is not the first time in recent years that Liquid has implemented job cuts following the announcement of a strategic shift at the organisation.
In 2020, Liquid Telecom rebranded to Liquid Intelligent Technologies and issued Section 189 notices during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the time, the company said its shift from a connectivity-heavy business to a broader digital services provider required changes to its workforce structure.
Liquid denied speculation at the time that the rebranding and strategic repositioning were a smokescreen for the layoffs.
It said its skills mix had to change, with the possibility of employees being reassigned and trained to support new customer solutions.
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