Commentary on Sections Interpretation Section 14: Ownership of companies
81.This section sets out what is meant by ownership of a company for the purposes of Part 1.
82.Subsections (2) and (3) clarify that the references to ownership are to the ownership of a company’s issued share capital and include indirect ownership. An example of indirect ownership is where a person owns all the shares in a holding company and, therefore, has ownership of that company’s subsidiary or subsidiaries. At present, the Crown owns all the shares in Royal Mail Holdings plc and has indirect ownership of its subsidiary, Royal Mail Group Limited.
83.Subsection (4) clarifies that a reduction in the proportion of a company owned by the Crown includes the disposal of all of the issue shared capital held by the Crown.
84.Subsection (5) makes it clear that the property and rights of the Secretary of State, the Treasury or a nominee of either of them shall be regarded as those of the Crown.