Companies Act 2014 section 471

Inspection of documents

Section 471 sets out the requirements for merging companies to make key merger-related documents available for inspection by their members, either at the registered office or on the company's website.

• Each merging company must make specified merger documents available free of charge to members for at least 30 days before the relevant merger resolution is passed
• Documents include the common draft terms of merger, audited financial statements for up to three preceding years, directors' explanatory reports, expert reports (where required), and any merger financial statements
• Companies may satisfy the inspection requirement by publishing the documents free of charge on their website for a continuous period of at least two months, starting at least 30 days before and ending at least 30 days after the relevant resolution date
• If website access is disrupted for 24 continuous hours or separate periods totalling at least 72 hours, the publication period must be extended by the length of the disruption