"Offers" and the Companies Act 71 of 2008

Abstract

The birth of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (“the Act”) was discussed by Delport “Companies Act 71 of 2008 and the ‘Turquand’ rule” 2011 THRHR 132. The dangers inherent in the transplantation of foreign rules on the common law were mentioned by him. To ignore the development of an Act and the common law over many decades through importing new concepts and structures, apparently purely for the sake of change, can be even more dangerous. All of this is most patent in the provisions that regulate the offer of securities to the public (ch 4 of the Act). It is not argued that the mere importing of new concepts is detrimental to our company law, but these concepts and changes should improve and not debilitate existing law (see, however, Temkin “New company law ‘reliable, userfriendly’” Business Day 2011-01-10 and sources quoted).