Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983

Subscription of share capital.

26.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Part, shares allotted by a company and any premium payable on them may be paid up in money or money's worth (including goodwill and expertise).

(2) A public limited company shall not accept at any time in payment up of its shares or any premium on them, an undertaking given by any person that he or another should do work or perform services for the company or any other person.

(3) Where a public limited company accepts such an undertaking as payment up of its shares or any premium payable on them, the holder of the shares when they or the premium are treated as paid up, in whole or in part, by the undertaking—

(a) shall be liable to pay the company in respect of those shares an amount equal to their nominal value, together with the whole of any premium or, if the case so requires, such proportion of that amount as is treated as paid up by the undertaking; and

(b) shall be liable to pay interest at the appropriate rate on the amount payable under paragraph (a).

(4) Where any person becomes a holder of any shares in respect of which—

(a) there has been a contravention of this section; and

(b) by virtue of that contravention, another is liable to pay any amount under this section,

that person also shall be liable to pay that amount (jointly and severally with any other person so liable) unless either he is a purchaser for value and, at the time of the purchase, he did not have actual notice of the contravention or he derived title to the shares (directly or indirectly) from a person who became a holder of them after the contravention and was not so liable.

(5) Subsection (1) shall not prevent a company from allotting bonus shares in the company to its members or from paying up, with sums available for the purpose, any amounts for the time being unpaid on any of its shares (whether on account of the nominal value of the shares or by way of premium).

(6) References in this section to a holder, in relation to any shares in a company, include references to any person who has an unconditional right to be included in the company's register of members in respect of those shares or to have an instrument of transfer of the shares executed in his favour.