(1)In this Act “market value” in relation to any assets means the price which those assets might reasonably be expected to fetch on a sale in the open market.
(2)In estimating the market value of any assets no reduction shall be made in the estimate on account of the estimate being made on the assumption that the whole of the assets is to be placed on the market at one and the same time.
(3)Subject to subsection (4) below, the market value of shares or securities listed in The Stock Exchange Daily Official List shall, except where in consequence of special circumstances prices quoted in that List are by themselves not a proper measure of market value, be as follows—
(a)the lower of the 2 prices shown in the quotations for the shares or securities in The Stock Exchange Daily Official List on the relevant date plus one-quarter of the difference between those 2 figures, or
(b)halfway between the highest and lowest prices at which bargains, other than bargains done at special prices, were recorded in the shares or securities for the relevant date,
choosing the amount under paragraph (a), if less than that under paragraph (b), or if no such bargains were recorded for the relevant date, and choosing the amount under paragraph (b) if less than that under paragraph (a).
(4)Subsection (3) shall not apply to shares or securities for which The Stock Exchange provides a more active market elsewhere than on the London trading floor; and, if the London trading floor is closed on the relevant date, the market value shall be ascertained by reference to the latest previous date or earliest subsequent date on which it is open, whichever affords the lower market value.
(5)In this Act “market value” in relation to any rights of unit holders in any unit trust scheme the buying and selling prices of which are published regularly by the managers of the scheme shall mean an amount equal to the buying price (that is the lower price) so published on the relevant date, or if none were published on that date, on the latest date before.
(6)The provisions of this section, with sections 273 and 274, have effect subject to Part I of Schedule 11.
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C1S. 272 applied (retrospective to 11.1.1994) by Finance Act 1994 (c. 9), s. 252(3), Sch. 24 para. 18(5)
C2S. 272(2)-(4) applied (27.7.1993) by 1993 c. 37, s. 12, Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 24(5)