SHAREHOLDER INSPECTION RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS
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Abstract
Corporate information is valuable and companies must protect business strategies and there is legitimate justification for opacity in the boardroom. On the other hand, however, some information access is necessary to support sound corporate governance. It is also trite that shareholder inspection rights, inter alia, facilitates and enable shareholder activism in that it allows a shareholder an opportunity to identify other shareholders with a view to communicating and garnering support for resolutions to be proposed. Hence there is a need to balance these two competing interests. This note shall consider these matters by:
- Discussing the legal and regulatory framework within which shareholders may exercise their rights to access to company records in South Africa;
- Examining the ways in which these rights are exercised in Australia, United Kingdom and Canada;
- providing brief comments in relation to the concept of beneficial ownership in South Africa; and
- finally providing some closing remarks regarding as to how shareholders may obtain access to company records not provided for in section 26(1) (a) of the Companies Act 71 of 2008.
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