The JSE is planning to list next year.
The stock exchange said on Tuesday it believes that listing the bourse is appropriate.
A decision on the timing of the listing will be taken in the first quarter of 2006, subject to the conclusion of discussions with the Financial Services Board, it said.
The JSE also announced on Tuesday that, subject to further investigation, the board has authorised the JSE executive to finalise a proposal to shareholders to implement a broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) initiative to demonstrate further its support of BEE.
“It is proposed that a JSE Empowerment Fund (JEF) in the form of a trust be established and that approximately 3,5% of the JSE’s share capital be issued to the trust at par (R1). The majority of the JEF’s trustees will be black.
“The proposal is for the JEF to provide financial assistance for education initiatives targeted specifically at bringing black people into the financial sector by enabling them to gain appropriate professional qualifications and a better understanding of investment on the stock market,” it stated.
It added that the trust’s assets will be used for the benefit of black people only.
“Following the creation of the JEF, the JSE expects to have over 10% of its issued share capital held directly by black people.”
The bourse has also approved in principle a proposal for a 10-for-1 share split of JSE shares in order to reach a more appropriate JSE share-price range of approximately R8,30 per share (based on current prices), as opposed to the current approximately R83 per share.
It said this is to put the JSE share within the range of a broader base of shareholders.
A staff-retention scheme will also be introduced to ensure the long-term retention of key staff. The retention scheme is proposed to be structured as a cash-settled bonus scheme. — I-Net Bridge