Start main page content

Legal Capital in Corporate Finance Law

Application Form
Complete Online Application Form at
/zahrah/display/external/public/163/AabSAeQlpQ#section-intro

Start Date
19 July 2024

Apply By
21 June 2024

Cost
R16,400.00

Duration & Format
This is a block release course where participants attend lectures on a Friday and a Saturday from 08:30 to 16:30 on 19, 20, 26 and 27 July 2024. Courses might be delivered through blended learning. Students are required to have basic computer skills and stable internet connection.

Overview
The Legal Capital in Corporate Finance Law course will cover an often overlooked but essential component of the practice of corporate law and the business of corporate finance – the intersection of the balance sheet and a wide variety of common (and some not so common) business transactions, including raising capital, paying dividends, repurchasing shares, granting share options, issuing preference shares, engaging in mergers and acquisitions and liquidating and dissolving. One aim of this course is to demonstrate to numbers-averse law professionals that accounting is interesting, and involves many of the same types of judgments that are made in the law.  The course will also briefly look at how other countries address legal capital (referred to in some countries as capital maintenance).

Course Outcomes
At the end of the course participants should be able to:

  • Critically assess the different regimes of corporate statutes in the common law world in relation to legal capital in corporate finance law;
  • Apply legal capital requirements of the South African Companies Act, 2008, and comparable statutes in common law jurisdictions in so far as they relate to contributions by, and distributions to, shareholders in both private and public companies;
  • Review both the equity solvency (liquidity) test and the balance sheet (solvency) test as the globally accepted tests for distributions in the common law world, including South Africa; and
  • Evaluate the continued relevance of both the equity solvency and balance sheet solvency tests in determining distributions in companies and consider whether a single test will not be sufficient.

Course Content
The course consists of the following modules:

  • Introduction to the balance sheet and legal capital;
  • Regulating contributions (payment) by shareholders to the company (capital accounts);
  • Regulating distributions by the company to shareholders (including record date, equity solvency, balance sheet solvency, reverse share split, factors for board consideration, basis for board determination/valuation);
  • Creditor protection outside legal capital; and
  • Comparison between the Model Act and South Africa's Companies Act provisions on legal capital.

Target Audience
Corporate lawyers, in-house counsel, finance professionals, and individuals interested in the legal dimensions of corporate finance.

Application Process
A relevant Bachelor of Laws or Bachelor of Commerce in Law or Bachelor of Arts in Law or equivalent qualification is a prerequisite for admission to the postgraduate certificate courses; OR

Applicants with any other undergraduate qualifications must complete the bridging course Introduction to Law for Non- Lawyers or equivalent courses first as well as have relevant legal work experience in the specific legal field before they would be considered for other courses.

You will be required to submit a copy of your Bachelors Degree, academic record as well as a copy of your identity document or passport.

Kindly note that all foreign qualifications must be submitted with a SAQA Evaluation Letter.

NB: ONLY applicants with an LLB qualification may apply for credit for MI short courses towards the Postgraduate Diploma or LLM degrees.

Additional Information
The following certificates can be obtained: 

  • Certificate of Competence: To obtain a certificate of competence, students are required to attend and participate in 75% of the lectures and to complete the assessments as required in the course. 
  • Please note that a Certificate of Attendance is not available for this course.

This postgraduate certificate course is accredited by the university in accordance with its statutory mandate.  It does not lead to a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework

Enquiries 
Mahlatse Masemola Tel No: +27 11 717 8438; Email mahlatse.masemola@wits.ac.za 
Ursula Dillner-Dangor Tel No: +27 11 717 8435; Email: ursula.dillner-dangor@wits.ac.za 
Website www.wits.ac.za/mandelainstitute/short-courses/

 

Share