Company Law Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. A136:"After Clause 613, insert the following new clause—" ““OBLIGATION OF PERSONS ACTING TOGETHER TO KEEP EACH OTHER INFORMED    A person who is a party to an agreement to which section 612 applies is under an obligation to notify every other party to the agreement, in writing, of all shares in the target company in which he is interested apart from the agreement within two days of his first becoming a party to the agreement and within two days of any change in such interest.”” The noble Lord said: The purpose of the amendment is to place an obligation on each person who is a party to an agreement that gives rise to a disclosure obligation to notify the other parties of his interests in the shares in question. As the Committee will be aware, Clause 612 imposes a disclosure obligation on parties to certain agreements to acquire interests in shares in a company. Parties to such agreements are treated as having interests in shares held by other parties to the agreement. As the Minister will appreciate, the provisions largely replicate the provisions in the Companies Act 1985, but do not replicate the obligation in Section 206 of the 1985 Act, which impose an obligation on persons acting together to keep each other informed. The purpose of the new clause is to impose such an obligation, although it does not replicate Section 206 in its entirety. I beg to move.