Africa-Press – South-Africa. Food and beverage company PepsiCo sub-Saharan Africa has launched Bašumi Trust, a R1.6 billion Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) employee share ownership plan (ESOP).
In a statement on Tuesday, PepsiCo said the trust is part of the conditions of the US group’s R24 billion acquisition of local food and beverage producer Pioneer Foods in 2020.
The trust owns R1.6 billion in shares in the US giant PepsiCo, which is listed on the Nasdaq in New York. The trust paid out its first dividend at launch.
“Participation [in the trust] is unencumbered and each beneficiary will immediately enjoy dividends, (such as the maiden one just paid) which will provide much needed additional income for households,” said PepsiCo.
Describing the structure of the trust as “novel”, PepsiCo SSA CEO, Tertius Carstens said: “Unlike a typical ESOP structured to distribute lump-sum payouts after a set vesting period, the Bašumi Trust, uniquely offers our employees the immediate financial benefit of a dividend together with the surety of future milestone distributions.”
About 11 000 Pepsico employees are beneficiaries of the trust, which is governed by a board that includes three union appointed trustees. One of the trustees, Tumi Seitshiro, a PepsiCo employee, has been appointed to the company’s board of directors as a non-executive director.
Every beneficiary receives one unit in the trust and proceeds from the shares through annual dividends and milestone distributions. The beneficiaries will initially receive the milestone distributions after four years in the scheme and every five years thereafter.
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