In what is seemingly an all-out crusade against corruption and other economic crimes, the President of the Republic of Kenya on the 5th of July assented to the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act No. 12 of 2019 which commenced on the 23rd of July 2019.

The key changes the amendments have brought about are the changes on sections 93 and 611 of the Companies Act, 2015 touching on beneficial ownership and take-over bids. We analyze the same below and the impact it has on your business.

Under the new regulations, a beneficial owner is owns described as the “natural person who ultimately or controls a legal person or arrangements  or the natural person on whose behalf a  transaction is conducted, and includes those  persons who exercise ultimate effective control  over a legal person or arrangement”.