Shares or rights held “indirectly”
511.Paragraph 18 sets out what is meant by shares or rights held indirectly.
512.A person holds shares in company Y indirectly if they have a majority stake in a legal entity and that entity holds the shares in question (paragraph 18(1)(a)).
513.If that legal entity is part of a chain of legal entities, a person will hold the shares indirectly if each entity in the chain has a majority stake in the entity immediately below it in the chain, and the last entity in the chain holds the shares in question (paragraph 18(1)(b)).
514.A person has a right “indirectly” if they have a majority stake in a legal entity and that entity has the right in question (paragraph 18(2)(a)).
515.If that legal entity is part of a chain of legal entities, a person will exercise the right indirectly if each entity in the chain has a majority stake in the entity immediately below it in the chain, and the last entity in the chain has the right in question (paragraph 18(2)(b)).
516.“Majority stake” is defined in paragraph 18(3) by reference to voting rights, dominant influence or control, and the right to appoint or remove directors. It reflects provision made in section 89J(4) FSMA, which describes how one person may have control over another.
517.The majority stake allows the person to control the legal entity in question. The person can then, by extension, control – for example - the way in which the legal entity votes its shares in company Y. Without a majority stake in the legal entity, the person will not normally have sufficient control to do this in respect of company Y. He or she cannot therefore be said to have significant control over company Y. In a chain of entities, this level of control needs to be reflected at each point in the chain in order that the person can be said to indirectly hold the shares or rights in company Y. Reference to share ownership alone is not included in the definition of “majority stake” as without control of voting rights it would not give a person the requisite amount of control in a chain structure.
518.Paragraph 18(4) provides that for the purpose of this paragraph, a legal entity is treated as having the right to appoint a director if a person is appointed as director of company Y as a result of being appointed director of the legal entity; or if the legal entity is the director of company Y.
