Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983

Limitation on reduction by a public limited company of its allotted share capital.

17.—(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), a public limited company may not reduce its allotted share capital below the authorised minimum and section 72(1) of the Principal Act shall be construed accordingly.

(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply to an old public limited company which has been re-registered as a public limited company until expiry of the transitional period for share capital.

(3) Where the court makes an order confirming a reduction of the capital of a public limited company which has the effect of bringing the nominal value of the company's allotted share capital below the authorised minimum, the registrar shall not register the order under section 75(1) of the Principal Act unless the court otherwise directs or the company is first re-registered as another form of company.

(4) A court making any such order in respect of a public limited company may authorise the company to be re-registered as another form of company without its having passed a special resolution and, where the court so authorises a public limited company, the court shall specify in the order the alterations in the company's memorandum and articles to be made in connection with that re-registration.

(5) In its application to a public limited company that applies to be re-registered as a private company in pursuance of an authority given under subsection (4), section 14 shall have effect with the following modifications—

(a) references to the special resolution of the company shall have effect as references to the order of the court under the said subsection (4);

(b) section 14 (1) (a), (c) and (d) and (2) shall not apply; and

(c) section 14 (3) shall be read as if the words—“If the registrar is satisfied that a public limited company may be re-registered under subsection (1) he shall” were deleted and the following words substituted therefor “On receipt of an application for re-registration under this section made in pursuance of an order of the court under section 17 , the registrar shall”.