{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/merger-reference-atlas-copco-ab-and-desoutter-brothers-holdings-plc-order-1989/article-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/merger-reference-atlas-copco-ab-and-desoutter-brothers-holdings-plc-order-1989/article-2.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1989/1718",
  "legislation_title": "The Merger Reference (Atlas Copco AB and Desoutter Brothers (Holdings) plc) Order 1989",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/merger-reference-atlas-copco-ab-and-desoutter-brothers-holdings-plc-order-1989",
  "path": "article/2",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": null,
  "text": "(1) It shall be unlawful for Atlas, any subsidiary of Atlas or any associate–\n(a) directly or through any nominee or trustee to acquire any shares or interest in shares of Desoutter or any subsidiary of Desoutter in circumstances where Atlas, its subsidiaries and any associate hold, or after the acquisition would hold, directly or indirectly, 15 per cent or more, or an interest in 15 per cent or more, of any class of voting shares of Desoutter or of any subsidiary of Desoutter, or\n(b) to exercise, directly or indirectly, at any general meeting of, or of any class of the members of, Desoutter or any of its subsidiaries, any voting rights conferred by the holding of shares or attaching to any interest in shares if the aggregate of the voting rights exercised by or on behalf of Atlas, its subsidiaries and any associate would amount to 15 per cent or more of the total of the voting rights exercisable on the resolution in question, or\n(c) to enter into any agreement or arrangement with any other person with a view to or for the purpose of acting together to secure or exercise control of Desoutter or any of its subsidiaries or of any of the enterprises thereof;\nand for the purposes of subparagraph (b) above, the total of the voting rights exercisable on the resolution in question does not include any voting rights which are not exercisable by reason of the application of that subparagraph.\n(2) Subparagraph (a) of paragraph (1) of this article shall not apply to anything done in pursuance of an agreement to acquire shares or interests in shares made before 9.00 a.m. on 21st September 1989 and legally enforceable against Atlas, its subsidiaries or any associate.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1718/article/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T15:36:57.668383+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}