Companies Act 2014 section 1136

Inspection of documents

Section 1136 sets out the requirements for merging companies to make key merger documents available for inspection by their members, either at their registered offices or on their websites.

• Each merging company must make specified merger documents available for free inspection by members at its registered office during business hours for at least 30 days before the general meeting to consider the merger
• Required documents include the common draft terms of merger, up to three years' audited statutory financial statements, the directors' explanatory report, the expert's report, and any merger financial statement
• A company may instead publish the documents free of charge on its website for a continuous period of at least two months, beginning at least 30 days before and ending at least 30 days after the general meeting
• These requirements do not apply to a merger by acquisition where the acquiring company already holds 90 per cent or more of the voting shares of the company being acquired

---