Cos 235 — Power to acquire shares of shareholders dissenting from scheme or contract approved by majority

Companies Act, 2013

Statutory text

(1)  Where  a  scheme  or  contract  involving  the  transfer  of  shares  or  any  class  of  shares  in  a company (the transferor company) to another company (the transferee company) has, within four months after making of an offer in that behalf by the transferee company, been approved by the holders of not less than nine-tenths in value of the shares whose transfer is involved, other than shares already held at the date of  the  offer  by,  or  by  a  nominee  of  the  transferee  company  or  its  subsidiary  companies,  the  transferee company may, at any time within two months after the expiry of the said four months, give notice in the prescribed manner to any dissenting shareholder that it desires to acquire his shares.
(2) Where a notice under sub-section (1) is given, the transferee company shall, unless on an application made by the dissenting shareholder to the Tribunal, within one month from the date on which the notice was given and the Tribunal thinks fit to order otherwise, be entitled to and bound to acquire those shares on the terms  on which, under the  scheme  or contract, the  shares of the approving shareholders are to be transferred to the transferee company.
(3) Where a notice has been given by the transferee company under sub-section (1) and the Tribunal has not, on an application made by the dissenting shareholder, made an order to the contrary, the transferee company  shall,  on  the  expiry  of  one  month  from  the  date  on  which  the  notice  has  been  given,  or,  if  an application to the Tribunal by the  dissenting shareholder is then pending, after that application has been disposed of, send a copy of the notice to the transferor company together with an instrument of transfer, to be executed on behalf of the shareholder by any person appointed by the transferor company and on its own behalf  by  the  transferee  company,  and  pay  or  transfer  to  the  transferor  company  the  amount  or  other consideration representing the price payable by the transferee company for the shares which, by virtue of this section, that company is entitled to acquire, and the transferor company shall—
(a) thereupon register the transferee company as the holder of those shares; and (b) within one month of the date of such registration, inform the dissenting shareholders of the fact of  such  registration  and  of  the  receipt  of  the  amount  or  other  consideration  representing  the  price payable to them by the transferee company.
(4) Any sum received by the transferor company under this section shall be paid into a separate bank account, and any such sum and any other consideration so received shall be held by that company in trust for the several persons entitled to the shares in respect of which the said sum or other consideration were respectively received and shall be disbursed to the entitled shareholders within sixty days.
(5) In relation to an offer made by a transferee company to shareholders of a transferor company before the commencement of this Act, this section shall have effect with the following modifications, namely:—
(a) in sub-section (1), for the words “the shares whose transfer is involved other than shares already held at the date of the offer by, or by a nominee of, the transferee company or its subsidiaries,”, the words “the shares affected” shall be substituted; and

(b) in sub-section (3), the words “together with an instrument of transfer, to be executed on behalf of the shareholder by any person appointed by the transferee  company and  on its  own behalf by the transferor company” shall be omitted.
Explanation.—For the purposes  of this  section, “dissenting shareholder” includes a  shareholder who has not assented to the  scheme  or contract and any shareholder who has failed  or refused to transfer his shares to the transferee company in accordance with the scheme or contract.

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