Companies Act 2014 section 1138

Electronic means of making certain information available for purposes of section 1137

Section 1138 allows merging companies to use electronic means — email or their website — to provide shareholders with the required merger documents, rather than supplying physical copies.

• Where a shareholder has consented to electronic communications, the company may email the merger documents to that shareholder, and the general meeting notice must state this.
• If the merger documents are made available free to download and print on the company's website for a continuous period of at least two months (starting at least 30 days before and ending at least 30 days after the general meeting), shareholders lose the right to request physical copies from the company.
• If website access is disrupted for a continuous period of at least 24 hours, or for separate periods totalling at least 72 hours, the required availability period must be extended by the length of the disruption.
• These provisions were originally introduced by the European Communities (Mergers and Division of Companies) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 306 of 2011).

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