Finance Act 2000

32 A participant may direct the trustees to do any of the following during the holding period—

(a) to accept an offer for any of his free shares (“the original shares”) if the acceptance or agreement will result in a new holding being equated with the original shares for the purposes of capital gains tax; or

(b) to accept an offer of a qualifying corporate bond (whether alone or with other assets or cash or both) for his free shares if the offer forms part of such a general offer as is mentioned in paragraph (c); or

(c) to accept an offer of cash, with or without other assets, for his free shares if the offer forms part of a general offer which is made to holders of shares of the same class as his or of shares in the same company and which is made in the first instance on a condition such that if it is satisfied the person making the offer will have control of that company, within the meaning of section 416 of the Taxes Act 1988; or

(d) to agree to a transaction affecting his free shares or such of them as are of a particular class, if the transaction would be entered into pursuant to a compromise, arrangement or scheme applicable to or affecting—

(i) all the ordinary share capital of the company or, as the case may be, all the shares of the class in question, or

(ii) all the shares, or all the shares of the class in question, which are held by a class of shareholders identified otherwise than by reference to their employment or their participation in an approved employee share ownership plan.