Sasol's R18-billion Inzalo black economic empowerment deal has been three times oversubscribed, the company announced on Monday.

That some applicants did not receive all the shares they applied for was "obviously an indication of the huge, unprecedented success of the scheme", said chief executive Pat Davies.

Sasol said that both the cash and funded invitations were "extremely sought after" with the cash offer oversubscribed by 13 percent and the funded by more than 300 percent.

The company had already started paying refunds where applications were not accepted in full because of oversubscription, rejection or withdrawal, it said.

"Sasol Inzalo's mandate is to deliver a transaction that will help make broad-based black economic empowerment a tangible and practical reality in the lives of South Africans who may previously not have considered this type of an investment," said Davies.

Black directors withdrew applications

He said a number of Sasol's black directors had withdrawn their applications for shares to allow public participation. Those who did not, received no preferential treatment.

In the funded invitation, applications were accepted in full for 25 to 50 Sasol Inzalo ordinary shares with additional shares allocated on a pro-rata basis.

Applicants received, on average, 11.3 percent of the balance of the shares for which they had applied.

In the cash invitation, applicants received, on average 76.7 percent of the shares allocated pro-rata after acceptance in full of applications for between 10 and 50 Sasol BEE ordinary shares.

The shares will be issued to the company's 300 000 new shareholders on Monday.

Sasol director Nolitha Fakude said most of the allocations were in Gauteng, at 45 percent, followed by Mpumalanga, 19 percent and KwaZulu-Natal, 15 percent, mainly to people aged between 31 and 40.

Women received 43.6 percent of the allocation and women's groups 3.9 percent, while men received 43 percent and male groups 9.5 percent, she said.

Sapa