Territorial Extent and Devolution Public company becoming private and unlimited Section 109: Re-registration of public company as private and unlimited
232.This section is a new provision, which, as recommended by the CLR (Final Report, paragraph 11.11), enables a public company to re-register as a private unlimited company with a share capital without first having to re-register as a private limited company. The conditions specified in subsection (2) must be met and all of the members must give their assent to the company being so re-registered. In the case of a deceased member, assent may be given by the personal representative of the deceased member’s estate. Where a member is bankrupt, assent may be given by his trustee in bankruptcy (to the exclusion of the member in question).
233.A public company may not re-register as an unlimited private company under this section if it has previously been re-registered as limited or as unlimited (see subsection (2)). The intention behind this subsection (which is based on the provision in subsection (2)(e) of section 90) is that a company should not be able to enjoy the benefits of limited liability or avoid the obligations that are attached to this, for example, the increased reporting requirements, by continually swapping from limited to unlimited status.