Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. A6:"Page 250, line 18, leave out from first ““it”” to ““as”” in line 19 and insert ““makes an offer which is conditional upon its reregistering””" The noble Lord said: This amendment has come to us from the Law Society. Its purpose is to clarify the meaning of subsection (3)(a). The subsection provides an exemption from the prohibition on private companies offering securities to the public when, in summary, the company is to reregister as a public company. The ““in pursuance of arrangement”” formulation appears far too vague; we question whether it is meant to capture anything other than entering into agreements to allot conditional on reregistration before allotment. If that is the case, what would happen if the company was unable to reregister but was obliged to continue with the allotment? It appears in those circumstances that no contravention would have taken place and that the allotment would stand. Again, I question why that would be. I realise that this is a very technical area and that the Minister may want to take it away and think about it. I beg to move.