The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has considered submissions by various collective investment scheme (CIS) managers regarding the interpretation of section 99(1) of the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act, 2002 (CISCA), which deals with the amalgamation of CIS portfolios.
The FSCA is of the opinion that there is no legal basis for alternative interpretations of section 99(1) of CISCA. As such, the FSCA has confirmed that investors of both the transferring and receiving/target portfolios of a transaction must be balloted and that the FSCA may consider the views of such investors when exercising its discretion to grant consent for the intended amalgamation.
The FSCA has noted, however, that the requirement to ballot investors in both the transferring and receiving scheme may lead to undesirable outcomes and has therefore published a draft exemption for CIS managers from certain requirements of section 99(1) of CISCA (the draft Exemption).
The draft Exemption is subject to certain conditions, including but not limited to, the provision of 30 days written notice to the target fund’s investors; notification of the manner in which target fund investors may object to the amalgamation, and the requirement to report the value of the objecting investors’ participatory interests to the FSCA upon completion of the amalgamation.
Interested parties may submit comments on the draft Exemption on the Comments Template, in Word format, on or before 8 August 2022 to FSCA.RFDStandards@fsca.co.za.
To read the FSCA’s Communication of 21 of 2022 (CIS), click here.
