VARIATION OF RIGHTS ATTACHED TO SPECIAL CLASSES OF SHARES (Hansard, 27 February 1980)

§ Mr. Parkinson
I beg to move amendment No. 34, in page 39, line 16, after 'three-quarters', insert 'in nominal value'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this we may take amendments Nos. 354 and 355, and Government amendment No. 35.

§ Mr. Parkinson
Amendments Nos. 34 and 35 are simple drafting changes which are needed to ensure that the proportion of the holders needed for consent to the variations in rights of classes of shareholders is decided with reference to the nominal value of the shares held rather 1509 than to just the number of shares. That is the sole and, believe, acceptable reason behind the amendments.
Amendments Nos. 354 and 355 in the name of my right hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Sir G. Page) are drafting changes. The Government accept the reasoning behind them and once again my right hon. Friend is making his mark on the legislation.
The logic behind Government amendment No. 35 and the reason for it are exactly the same as the reason behind amendment No. 34. I have achieved my mission when I thought that I was only half-way through it.

§ Sir Graham Page
Perhaps I can deal with amendments Nos. 354 and 355. In thanking my hon. Friend for accepting them, I wish to put on record the reason behind them.
Subsection (6)(a) requires as a quorum two persons at least holding or representing by proxy one-third of the issued shares of the class". A quorum is the fixed number of persons that must be present to make valid the proceedings of a meeting. Therefore, it cannot be "at least a quorum". Either it is a quorum or it is not. That is why I have changed the position of the words "at least". They refer to the number of shares. They should come before the number of shares and not refer to the quorum, otherwise we should be using "quorum" in quite the wrong sense of the word.