Clause 590
Company Law Reform Bill [Lords]
12:45 pm
Jonathan Djanogly (Shadow Solicitor General (Also Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry), Law Officers (Assist the Home Affairs Team); Huntingdon, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 476, in clause590,page292,line42,leave out ‘resolution effecting the’.
John Bercow (Buckingham, Conservative)
With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment No. 477, in clause590,page292,line43,after ‘redenomination’, insert ‘taking effect’.
Jonathan Djanogly (Shadow Solicitor General (Also Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry), Law Officers (Assist the Home Affairs Team); Huntingdon, Conservative)
The purpose of the amendments is to provide companies with slightly more flexibility as to the deadline by which they must pass a special resolution to effect the redenomination of share capital. They, too, are tabled at the suggestion of the Law Society.
Vera Baird (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Redcar, Labour)
The effect of the amendments would potentially be to give the company an additional 28 days—in addition to the three months from the date on which it passed a resolution to redenominate its share capital—to reduce its share capital in connection with that redenomination. The clock would begin ticking when the redenomination took effect, rather than from the date of the resolution to redenominate it. In our view there is already ample time under the Bill to make arrangements for adjusting the value of shares following a redenomination. Most companies will, in any event, want to renominalise the value of their shares at the time when they redenominate. I do not suppose that they would want shares valued at 1.23 or anything of that kind, so they would want to act as quickly as possible. We are not, therefore, persuaded that the amendment is necessary.
Jonathan Djanogly (Shadow Solicitor General (Also Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry), Law Officers (Assist the Home Affairs Team); Huntingdon, Conservative)
I thank the Minister for her clarification and I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.