Instead of spending days trying to read over the changes to The Companies Amendment Bill 2021, join our one–day interactive workshop with guest speaker, Professor Michael Katz from ENSAfrica, where the Amendment Bill will be unpacked and the various changes discussed, analysed and applied to one’s legal and business environment. This course is hosted by Lee’s Compliance together with CCASA.
Dates: 28 October 2021
Time: 8:30am – 4pm
Online platform: MS Teams
Subscribers will have received a document showing a full breakdown of the amendments.
Companies Act Amendment Bill workshop – course outline and registration forms can be found here
The 2021 Bill is open for comment until 31 October 2021
IN A NUT SHELL – THE CHANGES:
- changes the definition of securities;
- provides for the definition of true owner;
- provides for the preparation, presentation and voting on companies’ remuneration policy and the directors’ remuneration report;
- provides for the filing of the annual financial statement, the filing of the copy of the
- company’s securities register and the copy of the register of disclosure of beneficial
- ownership with the Commission;
- differentiates where the right to gain access to companies’ records may be limited;
- clarifies when a Notice of Amendment of a Memorandum of Incorporation takes effect;
- empowers the court to validate the irregular creation, allotment or issue of shares;
- clarifies how shares which are not fully paid are to be dealt with;
- excludes the holding company from the requirements relating to financial assistance;
- provides for instances where a special resolution is required for acquisition of shares by the company;
- extends the definition of an employee share scheme to include situations where there are purchases of shares of a company;
- provides for the circumstances under which a private company will be a
- regulated company;
- provides for circumstances where a company is unable to
- identify the details of persons who hold a beneficial interest in its securities;
- deals with the composition of the social and ethics Committee;
- deals with the publication of the application for exemption from the requirement to appoint a social and ethics committee;
- provides for the presentation and approval of the social and ethics committee report at the annual general meeting or shareholders’ meeting as the case may be;
- ensures the differentiation of duties between the chairperson of the Tribunal and the Chief Operation Officer
POLICIES UNDER DISCUSSION WHICH PROMOTED THE CHANGES
The 2021 version is a redrafted bill with significant amendments, which are aimed at achieving a number of policy objectives –
- improving ease of doing business;
- providing for greater transparency on wage ratios;
- addressing true or beneficial ownership of companies, in order to address money laundering challenges;
- compliance activities and the role of the social and ethics committee