15. COMMON STOCK

Common stock

Holders of shares of Net1's common stock are entitled to receive dividends and other distributions when declared by Net1's board of directors out of legally available funds. Payment of dividends and distributions is subject to certain restrictions under the Florida Business Corporation Act, including the requirement that after making any distribution Net1 must be able to meet its debts as they become due in the usual course of its business.

Upon voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding up of Net1, holders of common stock share ratably in the assets remaining after payments to creditors and provision for the preference of any preferred stock according to its terms. There are no pre-emptive or other subscription rights, conversion rights or redemption or scheduled installment payment provisions relating to shares of common stock. All of the outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and non-assessable.

Each holder of common stock is entitled to one vote per share for the election of directors and for all other matters to be voted on by shareholders. Holders of common stock may not cumulate their votes in the election of directors, and are entitled to share equally and ratably in the dividends that may be declared by the board of directors, but only after payment of dividends required to be paid on outstanding shares of preferred stock according to its terms. The shares of Net1 common stock are not subject to redemption.

The Company's number of shares, net of treasury, presented in the consolidated balance sheets and consolidated statement of changes in equity includes participating non-vested equity shares (specifically contingently returnable shares) as described below in Note 18"—Amended and Restated Stock Incentive Plan—Restricted Stock—General Terms of Awards".

The following table presents a reconciliation between the number of shares, net of treasury, presented in the consolidated statement of changes in equity and the number of shares, net of treasury, excluding non-vested equity shares that have not vested during the years ended June 30, 2018, 2017 and 2016:

	2018	2017	2016
Number of shares, net of treasury:
Statement of changes in equity – common stock	56,685,925	56,369,737	55,271,954
Less: Non-vested equity shares that have not vested as of end of
year (Note 18)	765,411	505,473	589,447
Number of shares, net of treasury excluding non-vested
equity shares that have not vested	55,920,514	55,864,264	54,682,507

Redeemable common stock issued pursuant to transaction with the IFC Investors

Holders of redeemable common stock have all the rights enjoyed by holders of common stock, however, holders of redeemable common stock have additional contractual rights. On April 11, 2016, the Company entered into a Subscription Agreement (the "Subscription Agreement") with International Finance Corporation, IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund, LP, IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund, LP, and Africa Capitalization Fund, Ltd. (collectively, the "IFC Investors"). Under the Subscription Agreement, the IFC Investors purchased, and the Company sold in the aggregate, approximately 9.98 million shares of the Company's common stock, par value $0.001 per share, at a price of $10.79 per share, for gross proceeds to the Company of approximately $107.7 million. The Company has accounted for these 9.98 million shares as redeemable common stock as a result of the put option discussed below.

The Company has entered into a Policy Agreement with the IFC Investors (the "Policy Agreement"). The material terms of the Policy Agreement are described below.

Board Rights

For so long as the IFC Investors in aggregate beneficially own shares representing at least 5% of the Company's common stock, the IFC Investors will have the right to nominate one director to the Company's board of directors. For so long as the IFC Investors in aggregate beneficially own shares representing at least 2.5% of the Company's common stock, the IFC Investors will have the right to appoint an observer to the Company's board of directors at any time when they have not designated, or do not have the right to designate, a director.

Put Option

Each Investor will have the right, upon the occurrence of specified triggering events, to require the Company to repurchase all of the shares of its common stock purchased by the IFC Investors pursuant to the Subscription Agreement (or upon exercise of their preemptive rights discussed below). Events triggering this put right relate to (1) the Company being the subject of a governmental complaint alleging, a court judgment finding or an indictment alleging that the Company (a) engaged in specified corrupt, fraudulent, coercive, collusive or obstructive practices; (b) entered into transactions with targets of economic sanctions; or (c) failed to operate its business in compliance with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism laws; or (2) the Company rejecting a bona fide offer to acquire all of its outstanding Common Stock at a time when it has in place or implements a shareholder rights plan, or adopting a shareholder rights plan triggered by a beneficial ownership threshold of less than twenty percent. The put price per share will be the higher of the price per share paid by the IFC Investors pursuant to the Subscription Agreement (or paid when exercising their preemptive rights) and the volume weighted average price per share prevailing for the 60 trading days preceding the triggering event, except that with respect to a put right triggered by rejection of a bona fide offer, the put price per share will be the highest price offered by the offeror. The Company believes that the put option has no value and, accordingly, has not recognized the put option in its consolidated financial statements.

Registration Rights

The Company has agreed to grant certain registration rights to the IFC Investors for the resale of their shares of the Company's common stock, including filing a resale shelf registration statement and taking certain actions to facilitate resales thereunder.

Preemptive Rights

For so long as the IFC Investors hold in aggregate 5% of the outstanding shares of common stock of the Company, each Investor will have the right to purchase its pro-rata share of new issuances of securities by the Company, subject to certain exceptions.

Sale of common stock during fiscal 2017

In February 2017, the Company sold a total of five million shares of its common stock at a price of $9.00 per share to two investors, for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of $45.0 million. These sales were made pursuant to stock purchase agreements entered into on October 6, 2016, as amended.

Common stock repurchases

Executed under share repurchase authorizations

On February 3, 2016, the Company's Board of Directors approved the replenishment of its share repurchase authorization to repurchase up to an aggregate of $100 million of common stock. The authorization has no expiration date. The share repurchase authorization will be used at management's discretion, subject to limitations imposed by SEC Rule 10b-18 and other legal requirements and subject to price and other internal limitations established by the Board. Repurchases will be funded from the Company's available cash. Share repurchases may be made through open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions, or both. There can be no assurance that the Company will purchase any shares or any particular number of shares. The authorization may be suspended, terminated or modified at any time for any reason, including market conditions, the cost of repurchasing shares, liquidity and other factors that management deems appropriate.

In June 2016, the Company adopted a 10b-5 in connection with its $100 million authorization. The plan expired at the end of August 2016. During the first quarter of the year ended June 30, 2017, the Company repurchased 3,137,609 shares under its share repurchase authorization for approximately $31.6 million. During November and December 2015, the Company repurchased an aggregate of 749,213 shares of its common stock for approximately $11.2 million under its share repurchase authorization that was approved on August 21, 2013. During February and June 2016, the Company repurchased an aggregate of 1,677,491 shares for approximately $15.9 million under its replenished share repurchase authorization which resulted in a total of 2,426,704 shares repurchased for approximately $27.1 million under its various share repurchase authorizations during the year ended June 30, 2016.

Other repurchases

The Company did not repurchase any of its shares during the years ended June 30, 2018 and 2016, respectively, outside of the authorization. On May 24, 2017, the Company and one of its co-founders, the former chief executive officer and former member of its board of directors, Mr. S.C.P. Belamant, entered into a Separation and Release of Claims Agreement (the "Separation Agreement"). The Company repurchased 1,269,751 shares of its common stock from Mr. Belamant, at a price of $10.80 per share, for an aggregate consideration of $13.7 million under the Separation Agreement.

Acquisition of non-controlling interests

During the year ended June 30, 2016, the Company acquired all of the issued share capital of Masterpayment and Smart Life that it did not previously own for approximately $11.2 million and $0.001 million, respectively, in cash. These transactions were accounted for as an equity transaction with a non-controlling interest and accordingly, no gain or loss was recognized in the Company's consolidated statement of operations. The carrying amount of the respective non-controlling interest was adjusted to reflect the change in ownership interest in each of Masterpayment, and Smart Life. The difference between the fair value of the consideration paid and the amount by which the non-controlling interest was adjusted, of $1.3 million, was recognized in total Net1 equity during the year ended June 30, 2016.