The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Commission (“B-BBEE Commission”) welcomes the threshold of R25 million transaction value for major B-BBEE transactions to qualify for registration with the B-BBEE Commission as issued by the Minister of Trade and Industry on 09 June 2017 in the Government Gazette. So, from 09 June 2017 all major B-BBEE transactions must be registered within fifteen (15) days of being concluded in accordance with regulation 18 of the B-BBEE Regulations.
The Minister has limited the threshold to ownership transactions excluding equity equivalent transactions for multinationals, and further extended the registration obligation to all transactions with the value of R25 million, concluded between 24 October 2014 and 8 June 2017, which must now be registered with the B-BBEE Commission within sixty (60) calendar days from 09 June 2017.
The Minister further stated that documents to be submitted in registering major B-BBEE transactions must be prescribed by the B-BBEE Commission. The B-BBEE Commission has today issued the Explanatory Notice outlining the documents to be submitted with the FORM BBBEE 18.
The documents required are 1) brief description of the major B-BBEE transaction; 2) signed Sale Agreement, 3) signed Shareholders’ Agreements, 4) signed trust deeds if the ownership structure includes a trust; 5) signed financing agreement irrespective of whether or not it is vendor financed; 6) schematic diagram of the ownership structure before and after the conclusion of the major B-BBEE transaction; 7) valid B-BBEE Certificate or a B-BBEE Sworn Affidavit; and 8) any document that the parties deem relevant to the transaction.
Parties are reminded that this process is for registration and not pre-approval for major B-BBEE transactions, and therefore will not result in any delays whatsoever in implementation of deals concluded from time to time. Parties are encouraged to approach the B-BBEE Commission for advisory opinions prior to concluding B-BBEE deals to ensure that they are B-BBEE compliant. Many companies have already started using this service with more than 50 advisory opinions already issued by the B-BBEE Commission.
The main benefit of the register for major B-BBEE transactions is that it will allow for the monitoring of compliance, levels of transformation and extent to which benefits of the major B-BBEE transactions flow to the black persons that are part of these deals in compliance to the objectives of the B-BBEE Act.
Click the link to access the copy of the Explanatory Notice https://bbbeecommission.co.za/explanatory-notices/
