From Peter Saxton
As I understand it all assets of a company that get dissolved get transferred to the Crown.
If Company A has shares in Company B (say 30%) and Company A gets dissolved I would have thought that these shares would get transferred to the Crown.
I was then wondering what details you would put on the PSC register.
When I phoned Companies House contact centre they said that Company B could transfer the shares to whoever they wanted! Surely that is not right.
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Surely the way through this is to find out what has happened, or is going to happen, to the shares in Company B formerly held by Company A.
I wish it was so simple.
The fact of the matter is that the shareholders/directors of Company A just ignored any efforts to contact them.
If you have an absentee freeholder of a property, the freehold reverts to the crown, and you can apply to buy that freehold yourself. When I did that 15 years ago the price was capped at £1,000 (which was a complete bargain, thanks Your Majesty!). I'd have thought this was effectively the same, although the process of buying/obtaining the shares ought to be simpler than a property freehold...
How does a company"get dissolved"? It will require a liquidator in these circumstances- you can't short circuit this. The liquidator will hold the shares of Company B for the shareholders of A, however reclusive they may be. If he[she] transfers them to anyone else, he[she] will be personally liable. Have a look at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bona-vacantia-dissolved-compa...
Company A could have been dissolved merely for not filing an annual return. Why it's dissolved won't matter. The shares are now owned by the Crown.
Download guidance booklet BV7.
The Bona Vacantia division (BVD) of the Government Legal Department deals with the disposal of shares previously owned by a dissolved company which are now owned by the Crown.
BVD usually sell shares for their market value or disclaim (give up) the Crown’s interest in them.