Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 449:"Page 304, line 35, leave out from beginning to ““had”” in line 38 and insert ““in the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers as it””" The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, I shall also speak to Amendments Nos. 462 and 463. The noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, will recognise the substance of Amendment No. 449. It follows an amendment he proposed in Committee to delete the reference to the rules governing substantial acquisitions of shares, the SARs, from the description of the proposed rule-making power to be provided to the Takeover Panel by Clause 625. We could not accept the amendment at that time, not because of any substantive difference of opinion between us but because the Takeover Panel was still in the process of considering the responses received to its own consultation on the relevance of the SARs. The panel announced the outcome of its deliberations on 21 April and the SARs will go from 20 May, so the reference to them in Clause 625 becomes redundant. There is still latitude within Clause 625 to enable the panel, should they so choose in the future, to make rules having statutory effect about the sort of matters that were subject to the SARs. I draw attention to that because Clause 625(2)(c) enables the panel to make rules about cases where a takeover bid or other similar transaction is or has been contemplated or apprehended, but that is for the future. So far as Amendments Nos. 462 and 463 in this group are concerned, they are simply minor tidying-up exercises as a result of changes we agreed in Committee. I beg to move.