“Significant influence or control” are any grounds that are enough for a person to be considered a PSC in relation to a company.
A person may hold no shares in a company and yet may still be a PSC by exercising, or just having the right to exercise, significant influence or control over it.
“Significant influence” and “control” have different meanings.
“Control” means that a person can direct the activities of a company.
“Significant influence” means that a person, even while being unable to direct company activities, can nonetheless generally cause the company to adopt the activities which that person desires.
IMPORTANT: The right to exercise significant influence or control over a company may result in that person being a PSC in relation to the company regardless of whether they actually exercise that right.
A person may hold a right to exercise significant influence or control as a result of a variety of circumstances including the provisions of a company’s constitution, the rights attached to the shares or securities which a person holds, a shareholders’ agreement, some other agreement or due to other circumstances.
Below are some examples of where a person has a right to exercise or actually exercises significant influence or control over a company: