Generally, commonly owned groups of businesses are where each business has the same owners. It does not matter whether those owners have the same proportion of ownership in each of the businesses.
A business may also be treated as being in the group if it is part of a larger group of businesses as described in the following situations.
- The group has a dominating shareholder or group of shareholders and the businesses operate together as if they were one.
- The group of businesses is a complex ownership structure where the overall control is centralised and businesses are in substance one enterprise.
Entitlement for commonly owned groups
The entitlement for a business or organisation in a commonly owned group depends on the total number of full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) in the group.
Commonly owned groups with 50 or fewer FTEs
Each business or organisation in the group will be entitled to apply for a loan, based on the number of employees employed by each individual business.
Commonly owned groups with more than 50 FTEs
None of the businesses or organisations in such a group will be eligible for a loan.
We ask loan applicants to evaluate this requirement honestly and in good faith, because the loan scheme has been designed to assist small to medium sized businesses and organisations. The loan is not intended to benefit large businesses and organisations which control multiple small to medium businesses or organisations.
If your business or businesses are in substance part of a larger group and you receive loans in contravention of the policy intent of this loan, we may reconsider your eligibility for the loans and may ask the business or businesses to repay the loan amounts early.