Von Seidels Attorney, Nick Pemberton contributed to Ventureburn’s article “Reserve Bank changes to IP exchange have had no impact – venture capitalist”
While intellectual property attorneys say changes instituted a year ago by the Reserve Bank have helped speed up IP exchange control approvals, a leading local venture capitalist believes it is no easier than before to get IP transferred out of South Africa.
The changes follow an announcement in the Budget speech by then minister of finance Pravin Gordhan in February last year and pertain to the Reserve Bank’s Currency and Exchanges Manual for Authorised Dealers.
Nick Pemberton, an attorney with Von Seidels, noted that if there is a direct or indirect relationship between a South African entity and foreign entity (that is, the transaction is not conducted at arm’s length), an authorised dealer will not grant the approval.
He said adding this additional layer of risk and bureaucracy means that foreign investors are less likely to put money in South African startups. Referring to a change that the Reserve Bank made that came into 2014, he said the limited relaxation of the exchange control rules for particular unlisted companies was an attempt to mitigate this problem.
Read the full article here, published by Ventureburn.
For more information, please contact Nick Pemberton
