HC Deb 12 June 1986 vol 99 cc625-7

Amendments made: No. 233, in page 162, line 34, leave out 'the announcement of.

No. 234, in page 163, line 35, leave out subsection (8) and insert— '(8) Where during the period within which a takeover offer can be accepted the offeror acquires or contracts to acquire any of the shares to which the offer relates but otherwise than by virtue of acceptances of the offer, then, if—

  1. (a) the value of the consideration for which they are acquired or contracted to be acquired ("the acquisition consideration") does not at that time exceed the value of the consideration specified in the terms of the offer; or
  2. (b) those terms are subsequently revised so that when the revision is announced the value of the acquisition consideration, at the time mentioned in paragraph (a)above, no longer exceeds the value of the consideration specified in those terms,
the offeror shall be treated for the purposes of this section as having acquired or contracted to acquire those shares by virtue of acceptances of the offer; but in any other case those shares shall be treated as excluded from those to which the offer relates.'

No. 235, in page 164, line 48, leave out from '(5)' to 'and' in line 49.

No. 236, in page 165, line 3, leave out subsection (10) and insert— '(10) Any sum received by a company under paragraph (b) of subsection (5), and any dividend or other sum accruing from any other consideration received by a company under that paragraph, shall be paid into a separate bank account, being an account the balance on which bears interest at an appropriate rate and can be withdrawn by such notice (if any) as is appropriate.

No. 237, in page 165, line 9, after 'enquiry', insert— 'made at such intervals as are reasonable'.

No. 238, in page 165, line 12, leave out from 'received' to end of line 13 and insert— 'or the company is wound up the consideration (together with any interest, dividend or other benefit that has accrued from it) shall be paid into court. (12) In relation to a company registered in Scotland, subsections (13) and (14) shall apply in place of subsection (11). (13) Where after reasonable enquiry made at such intervals as are reasonable the person entitled to any consideration held on trust by virtue of subsection (9) cannot be found and twelve years have elapsed since the consideration was received or the company is wound up—

  1. (a) the trust shall terminate;
  2. (b) the company or, as the case may be, the liquidator shall sell any consideration other than cash and any benefit other than cash that has accrued from the consideration; and
  3. (c) a sum representing—
    1. (i) the consideration so far as it is cash;
    2. (ii) the proceeds of any sale under paragraph (b) above; and
    3. (iii) any interest, dividend or other benefit that has accrued from the consideration,
shall be deposited in the name of the Accountant of Court in a bank account such as is referred to in subsection (10) and the receipt for the deposit shall he transmitted to the Accountant of Court. (14) Section 58 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985 (so far as consistent with this Act) shall apply with any necessary modifications to sums deposited under subsection (13) as that section applies to sums deposited under section 57(1)(a) of that Act. (15) The expenses of any such enquiry as is mentioned in subsection (11) or (13) may be defrayed out of the money or other property held on trust for the person or persons to whom the enquiry relates.'.

No. 239, in page 166, line 21, leave out from first 'the' to end of line 27 and insert 'holder of the shares may indicate his choice when requiring the offer to acquire them and the notice given to the holder under section 430A(3)—

  1. (a) shall give particulars of the choice and of the rights conferred by this subsection; and
  2. (b) may state which consideration specified in the offer is to be taken as applying in default of his indicating a choice;'.

No. 240, in page 167, line 9, after 'costs', insert 'or expenses'.

No. 241, in page 167, line 33, leave out 'known shareholders' and insert 'shareholders who have been traced but'.

No 242, in page 167, line 36, leave out from 'jointly' to end of line 42 and insert 'and in that event this Part of this Act has effect with the following modifications. (2) The conditions for the exercise of the rights conferred by sections 429 and 430A shall be satisfied by the joint offerors acquiring or contracting to acquire the necessary shares jointly (as respects acquisitions by virtue of acceptances of the offer) and either jointly or separately (in other cases); and, subject to the following provisions, the rights and obligations of the offeror under those sections and sections 430 and 430B shall he respectively joint rights and joint and several obligations of the joint offerors. (3) It shall be a sufficient compliance with any provision of those sections requiring or authorising a notice or other document to be given or sent by or to the joint offerors that it is given or sent by or to any of them; but the statutory declaration required by section 429(4) shall be made by all of them and, in the case of a joint offeror being a company, signed by a director of that company. (4) In sections 428, 430(8) and 430E references to the offeror shall he construed as references to the joint offerors or any of them. (5) In section 430(6) and (7) references to the offeror shall be construed as references to the joint offerors or such of them as they may determine. (6) In sections 430(4)(a) and 430B(4)(a) references to the offeror being no longer able to provide the relevant consideration shall he construed as references to none of the joint offerors being able to do so. (7) In section 430C references to the offeror shall be construed as references to the join offerors except that any application under subsection (3) or (5) may be made by any of them and the reference in subsection (5)(a) to the offeror having been unable to trace one or more of the persons holding shares shall be construed as a reference to none of the offerors having been able to do so.'.

No. 243, in page 167, line 47, leave out from 'but' to end of line 2 on page 168 and insert `, subject to subsection (1A), shares which any such associate holds or has contracted to acquire, whether at the time when the offer is made or subsequently, shall be disregarded for the purposes of any reference in this Part of this Act to the shares to which a takeover offer relates. (1A) Where during the period within which a takeover offer can be accepted any associate of the offeror acquires or contracts to acquire any of the shares to which the offer relates, then, if the condition specified in subsection (8)(a) or (b) of section 429 is satisfied as respects those shares they shall be treated for the purposes of that section as shares to which the offer relates.'. —[Mr. Howard.]

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