Commentary Meaning of takeover offer and entitlement to dividends (sections 974 and 976)
1249.In order to be a takeover offer for the purposes of Part 13A of the 1985 Act, an offer to acquire shares had to be on terms which were the same in relation to all the shares to which the offer related. One problem with the 1985 legislation was how to treat any variations in value between shares of the same class that were attributable to the fact that some of the shares, because they were allotted later, do not yet carry a dividend. Section 976(2) rectifies this problem by providing that, even if the offeror offers to pay more for shares that carry a dividend than for those in the same class which do not, the offer will be treated as being made on the same terms in relation to those shares.