Share transfers

Share transfers

There are a number of ways in which the shares in a company may be transferred, including by a sale, through transmission by operation of law (eg upon the death or bankruptcy of a shareholder), by a gift or upon the enforcement of a charge. It is most common for shares to be transferred by a sale.

The focus of this subtopic is the transfer of the legal title in certificated shares by a sale that is not a share buyback. The transfer of shares in a listed company, an AIM company or any other company with securities that are traded on an exchange are outside its scope. For information on such transfers, see the equity capital markets topics.

Certificated shares

Shares in a UK company can be allotted and issued as:

•
certificated shares, or
•
shares held in uncertificated form (ie shares in respect of which there is no physical share certificate to evidence title, instead they are held through CREST)

Shares allotted and issued by a private company or a public company that is not a listed company or an AIM company (an unlisted public

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