50.—(1) In this Part—
“debenture” includes debenture stock;
“the Holding Company” means the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company established under section 47 of the Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 1967(1);
“NIAL” means the subsidiary of the Holding Company incorporated under the name of Northern Ireland Airports Limited;
“securities”, in relation to a company, includes shares, debentures, bonds and other securities of the company, whether or not constituting a charge on the assets of the company;
“shares” includes stock;
“statutory accounts” means any accounts (including group accounts) prepared by a company for the purpose of any provision of the Companies Order;
“the successor company” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 51(1);
“the transfer date” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 54(2);
“transferee”, in relation to any transfer of assets and liabilities effected under Article 54, means the body to which they are so transferred;
“transfer scheme” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 54(1).
(2) Subject to Article 54(5), in this Part any reference to the Crown is a reference to the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s Government in Northern Ireland.
(3) A company shall be regarded for the purposes of this Part as wholly owned by the Crown at any time when none of the issued shares in the company is held otherwise than—
(a)by, or by a nominee of, the Department or the Department of Finance and Personnel; or
(b)by a company which is itself wholly owned by the Crown.
(4) Any reference in this Part (except Article 52) to assets and liabilities of NIAL—
(a)is a reference to assets and liabilities to which NIAL is entitled or subject immediately before the transfer date, whether or not capable of being transferred or assigned by NIAL;
(b)in relation to assets which consist of property of NIAL, is a reference to property whether situated in Northern Ireland or elsewhere; and
(c)in relation to assets which consist of other rights and to liabilities of NIAL, is a reference to rights to which NIAL is entitled, or (as the case may be) liabilities to which NIAL is subject, whether under the law of Northern Ireland or under the law of any country or territory outside Northern Ireland.
(5) Paragraph (4) applies to airport assets and airport liabilities of the Holding Company as it applies to assets and liabilities of NIAL, but with the substitution for references to NIAL of references to the Holding Company.
(6) In this Part references to “airport assets” and “airport liabilities” of the Holding Company are references, respectively, to the assets and liabilities of the Holding Company which, either wholly or in part, subsist for the purposes of, or in connection with, or are otherwise attributable to, the functions exercisable by the Holding Company immediately before the transfer date by virtue of section 16 of the Aerodromes Act (Northern Ireland) 1971(2).
51.—(1) The Department may by order nominate as the successor company for the purposes of this Order a company which—
(a)is a company limited by shares, within the meaning of the Companies Order; and
(b)is wholly owned by the Crown;
and references in this Order to “the successor company” are references to the company so nominated.
(2) In the Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975(3), in Part III of Schedule 1 (other disqualifying offices) there shall be inserted (at the appropriate place in alphabetical order) the following entry—
“Director of the successor company (within the meaning of Part V of the Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994), being a director nominated or appointed by a Northern Ireland department or by a person acting on behalf of a Northern Ireland department”.