Sasol’s Inzalo black public invitations are almost four times oversubscribed, the listed chemicals giant said on Thursday.
”Response to the Sasol Inzalo black public invitations has far exceeded expectation in terms of its broad-based appeal and the invitations are almost four times oversubscribed with the funded invitation receiving the bulk of the applications.”
As a testimony to the broad-based attraction of the invitations, 95% of the applications received were for 200 shares, or less.
”We had a high end target of bringing 200 000 new shareholders into Sasol through Inzalo and at this stage, we have about 309 000 applicants, the vast majority of whom are individuals seeking 200 shares or less,” said Sasol chief executive, Pat Davies.
In addition to the huge numbers of applications received, Inzalo had been well received by both men and women, with a strong showing by women at 47% of the applications, the company said.
Since the close of the invitations, a detailed process of reconciliation and collation had been under way, to allow for the processing of the applications.
”A cornerstone of the Sasol Inzalo invitations was to create a transaction that would offer truly broad-based empowerment to a mass of people. The success of Inzalo has been way beyond our expectations and the consequence of this unprecedented response is that the transaction will not be able to accommodate everyone to their full expectation,” Davies said.
The share allocation model was designed to ensure that shares would be issued in a ”bottom up” approach.
”Any applicants seeking small numbers of shares will be accommodated first — in full or in part,” Sasol said.
This would ensure the Sasol objectives of a fundamentally broad-based Inzalo shareholder profile would be fulfilled.
Allocations further up the pyramid would be made on a pro-rata basis, based on the number of shares applied for by the applicant, as well as the number of shares available.
”As stated in the prospectus, where the full application cannot be met, the applicant will receive a refund in the appropriate amount of money by electronic transfer back into the applicant’s specified personal bank account,” Sasol said. – Sapa