Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:UEPS), a provider of alternative payment systems, has purchased approximately 2.4 million shares of the company’s common stock from its BEE partners under its December 2013 Relationship Agreements, as amended. 

The company said that these agreements gave the company the right to require its BEE partners to early settle their loan obligations to the Net1 subsidiary which advanced the loans for the purchase of their Net1 shares, in the event that Net1′s share price ever traded above ZAR120.00 on the JSE Limited, or the South African Rand equivalent on the Nasdaq. 

Such settlement could occur either through the sale of Net1 shares or the use of other financial resources, the company said. 

The company’s share price exceeded this level on June 5, 2014 and the company gave notice for the early repayment of the loans. The BEE partners elected to effect this repayment through the sale of a portion of their Net1 shares and the company elected to purchase the shares itself to reduce the dilution effect of the original BEE issue. 

Accordingly, the company said it had repurchased approximately 2.4 million shares from its BEE Partners at the contractually determined 30 day volume weighted average price of ZAR109.98, or $10.24 at the appropriate exchange rate, per share. 

The settlement amount has been applied to repay, in full, the BEE loans and related interest obligations under the Relationship Agreements, Net1 stated. 

Net1′s outstanding share count has accordingly reduced by 4.8% from 50,183,342 to 47,755,220 shares. Net1′s BEE partners may not sell their remaining 1,971,878 shares of company common stock for a period of five years, except as permitted under the Relationship Agreements. 

Shares in Net1 were down 0.33% to $11.73 shortly before midday on Tuesday. Over the past 52 weeks, the company has seen a share price high of $13 and a low of $6.60.