The High Court has held, in AMG Global Nominees (Private) Limited v SMM Holdings Limited, THZ Holdings Limited, and Africa Resources Limited, that an English parent company did not give financial assistance for the purposes of section 151 of the Companies Act 1985 by arranging for a wholly-owned foreign subsidiary to pay the purchase price to the seller for the acquisition of its shares.
The foreign subsidiary had provided the financial assistance from its assets, rather than those of the English parent company and following Arab Bank plc v Mercantile Holdings Ltd [1996] Ch 71 this did not amount to financial assistance under the Companies Act 1985.