Electronic Signatures: What Is Required Under Law?
While the pandemic and resultant adaption of work-from-home protocols have been a catalyst for the next stage of the digital revolution, electronic signatures and their validity have been under scrutiny for a number of years. Not only do electronic signatures allow for the accommodation of a more virtual working environment, but a renewed paperless approach […]
Which Shareholder Can Elect And Remove Directors in a Private Company?
It is often important for Shareholders of private companies to either be on the board of directors themselves, or to have someone sit on the board who they trust. So let’s look at who gets to choose who the directors are, and who has the power to remove them from their directorship position. Becoming a […]
A Company Can Issue Shares Before It Creates Them
I am surprised how few business people seem to know that a company can issue new shares before those shares are actually created (or ‘authorised’, as this creation of shares is more properly referred to). Being able to do this can sometimes be extremely helpful where deadlines are tight, and the company does not have […]
How Suretyships Differ from Guarantees
It is important that people understand what it means to have a suretyship versus a guarantee document signed, whether as the person signing it to offer security for someone else’s debts, or as the person who is owed a debt by someone else and requires additional security for it. In circumstances where one can negotiate […]
Buy & Sell Agreements
Buy & Sell Agreements are concluded when shareholders take out an insurance policy on the life or disability of another shareholder, so that on the other shareholder’s death or disability the first shareholder is paid out the funds by the policy to be able to afford to buy that other shareholder’s shares. The Buy & […]
MOI vs Shareholders Agreements
What’s the Difference? A Memorandum of Incorporation, or MOI, is a cornerstone document for any company, laying out the rights, responsibilities and duties of shareholders and directors. It is obligatory that every company has an MOI filed with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (“CIPC”), and the MOI is available for public viewing at a […]
Suretyships vs Demand Guarantees, and the Impact of Business Rescue
What is the difference between a Suretyship and a Demand Guarantee? When you want to secure any debt owed to you by a third party (such as a borrower, tenant or purchaser under an extended credit term agreement), there is a big difference between getting a Suretyship or a Demand Guarantee signed in your favour. […]
Directors’ Personal Liability During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The Companies Act: Section 22(1) of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (“the Act”) read together with sections 218(2) and 77, set the stage for directors of a comp…
Mediation as the Best Dispute Resolution Tool
With the Nation Lockdown in full effect, all industries are feeling the strains and increased pressures of the limitations necessary to combat the spread of …