Section 295 - Meaning of “invitations to the public”

(1) For the purposes of this Act, an invitation is made to the public if an offer or invitation to make an offer is

(a) advertised or disseminated in the Republic by newspaper, broadcasting, cinematograph, electronic communication or any other means;

(b) made to or circulated among persons whether selected as members or debenture holders of the company concerned or as clients of the persons making or circulating the invitation or in any other manner;

(c) made to one or more persons on the terms that the person or persons to whom it is made may renounce or assign the benefit of the invitation or of shares or debentures to be obtained under the invitation in favour of any other person; or

(d) made to one or more persons to acquire shares or debentures dealt in on a stock exchange or in respect of which the invitation states that application has been or will be made for permission to deal in those shares or debentures on a stock exchange subject to subsection (5).

(2) Subsection (1) does not require an invitation to be treated as made to the public if the invitation can properly be regarded in all the circumstances as being a domestic concern of the persons making and receiving it.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), an invitation made by or on behalf of a private company exclusively to the existing shareholders and debenture holders of the company, which is not greater in number than is prescribed by subsection (5) of section 7 and its existing employees is not an invitation to the public unless the invitation is of the type referred to in paragraph (c) or (d) of subsection (1).

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1), the issue of a form of application for shares or debentures or of a form to be completed on the deposit of money with a company is an invitation to acquire those shares or debentures or to deposit money.

(5) For the purposes of sections 329 to 342 the expression “invitation to the public” bears the meaning assigned to it in this section but an invitation made on behalf of an external or non-Ghanaian company, exclusively to its existing shareholders and debenture holders, which is not greater in number than is prescribed by subsection (5) of section 7, and its existing employees is not an invitation to the public unless the invitation is of the type referred to in paragraph (c) or (d) of subsection (1).