Shareholders’ rights summary

Many companies are unaware of the full extent of their shareholders’ rights. It is important that companies can respond appropriately to attempts to exercise these rights, for example by knowing the relevant thresholds for doing so. Our summary sets out the key information.

Standard rights

Shareholders’ key rights are those to get a return on their investment and to participate in making certain decisions. However, there are several specific rights that shareholders do not need to exercise routinely, but are there for their protection. These rights help to ensure they get a say in important decisions, and can take action if the company is not being managed properly.

Our summary table sets out the standard rights and remedies granted to shareholders by statute, Table A and/or the model articles. Most of these impose qualification requirements (chiefly, to hold a certain percentage of the shares in the company) on the shareholder(s) exercising them. Note that a threshold shareholding can be met by a single shareholder or several shareholders acting together.