Please refer to the text below for the restrictions on the transfer of AIM securities.
Transfer of shares
Subject to such of the restrictions in the Articles as may be applicable, each member may transfer all or any of their shares, which are in certificated form, by instrument of transfer in writing in any usual form or in any form approved by the Board. Such instruments shall be executed by or on behalf of the transferor and, in the case of a transfer of a share which is not fully paid up, by or on behalf of the transferee. The transferor shall be deemed to remain the holder of such share until the name of the transferee is entered in the register of members.
The Board may, in its absolute discretion, refuse to register any transfer of a share in certificated form (or renunciation of a renounceable letter of allotment) unless:
- it is in respect of a share which is fully paid up
- it is in respect of only one class of shares
- it is in favour of a single transferee or not more than four joint transferees
- it is duly stamped (if so required)
- it is delivered for registration to the registered office for the time being of the Company or such other place as the Board may from time-to-time determine, accompanied (except in the case of (a) a transfer by a recognised person where a certificate has not been issued (b) a transfer of an uncertificated share or (c) a renunciation) by the certificate for the share to which it relates, and such other evidence as the Board may reasonably require to prove the title of the transferor or person renouncing and the due execution of the transfer or renunciation by them or, if the transfer or renunciation is executed by some other person on their behalf, the authority of that person to do so, provided that the Board shall not refuse to register a transfer or renunciation of a partly paid share in certificated form on the grounds that it is partly paid in circumstances, where such refusal would prevent dealings in such share from taking place on an open and proper basis on the market on which such share is admitted to trading. The Board may refuse to register a transfer of an uncertificated share in such other circumstances as may be permitted or required by the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001 (SI 2001 No. 3755) and the relevant electronic system.
Unless the Board otherwise determines, a transfer of shares will not be registered if the transferor, or any other person whom the Company reasonably believes to be interested in the transferor’s shares, has been duly served with a notice pursuant to the Act requiring such person to provide information about their interest in the Company’s shares and has failed to supply the required information within 14 days and the shares in respect of which such notice has been served represent at least 0.25 per cent in nominal value of their class, unless the member is not themselves in default as regards supplying the information required and proves to the satisfaction of the Board that no person in default as regards supplying such information is interested in any of the shares the subject of the transfer, or unless such transfer is by way of acceptance of a takeover offer, in consequence of a sale on a recognised investment exchange or any other stock exchange outside the United Kingdom on which the Company’s shares are normally traded or is in consequence of a bona fide sale to an unconnected party.
If the Board refuses to register a transfer of a share, it shall send the transferee notice of its refusal, together with its reasons for refusal, as soon as practicable and in any event within two months after the date on which the transfer was lodged with the Company.
No fee shall be charged for the registration of any instrument of transfer or any other document relating to or affecting the title to any shares.
If at any time the holding or beneficial ownership of any shares in the Company by any person (whether on its own or taken with other shares), in the opinion of the Directors (i) would cause the assets of the Company to be treated as ‘plan assets’ of any benefit plan investor under Section 3(42) of ERISA or the U.S. Code; or (ii) would or might result in the Company and/or its shares being required to register or qualify under the U.S. Investment Company Act and/or the U.S. Securities Act and/or the U.S. Securities Exchange Act 1934 and/or any laws of any state of the U.S. that regulate the offering and sale of securities; or (iii) may cause the Company not to be considered a ‘Foreign Private Issuer’ under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act 1934; or (iv) may cause the Company to be a ‘controlled foreign corporation’ for the purpose of the U.S. Code; or (v) creates a significant legal or regulatory issue for the Company under the U.S. Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (as amended) or regulations or interpretations thereunder, then any shares which the Directors decide are shares, which are so held or beneficially owned (“Prohibited Shares”), must be dealt with in accordance with paragraph 4.5 (g) below. The Directors may at any time give notice in writing to the holder of a share requiring them to make a declaration as to whether or not the share is a Prohibited Share.
The Directors shall give written notice to the holder of any share, which appears to them to be a Prohibited Share, requiring them, within 21 days (or such extended time as the Directors consider reasonable), to transfer (and/or procure the disposal of interests in) such share to another person so that it will cease to be a Prohibited Share. From the date of such notice until registration for such a transfer, or a transfer arranged by the Directors as referred to below, the share will not confer any right on the holder to receive notice of or to attend and vote at a general meeting of the Company, and of any class of shareholder, and those rights will vest in the Chair of any such meeting, who may exercise or refrain from exercising them entirely at their discretion. If the notice is not complied with within 21 days to the satisfaction of the Directors, the Directors shall arrange for the Company to sell the share at the best price reasonably obtainable to any other person so that the share will cease to be a Prohibited Share. The net proceeds of sale (after payment of the Company’s costs of sale and together with interest at such rate as the Directors consider appropriate) shall be paid over by the Company to the former holder upon surrender by them of the relevant share certificate (if applicable).
Upon transfer of a share the transferee of such share shall be deemed to have represented and warranted to the Company that such transferee is acquiring shares in an offshore transaction meeting the requirements of Regulation S and is not, nor is acting on behalf of: (i) a benefit plan investor and no portion of the assets used by such transferee to acquire or hold an interest in such share constitutes or will be treated as “plan assets” of any benefit plan investor under Section 3(42) of ERISA; and/or (ii) a U.S. Person.