(1)A publicly-owned company shall not, except with the consent of, or in accordance with the terms of any general authority given by, the Secretary of State, acquire by agreement interests in a company or form, or take part in forming, a company.
(2)Schedule 4 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution and proceedings of any publicly-owned company that is a private company and shall so have effect for as long as the company remains in public ownership and notwithstanding any enactment or other instrument applicable to the company.
(3)When any company comes into public ownership or ceases to be in public ownership, the Corporation shall, as soon as possible thereafter, publish that fact in the London and Edinburgh Gazettes.
(4)The Corporation shall keep at their principal office a list, which shall be available for inspection during business hours, of the companies which are for the time being publicly-owned companies and of the other companies, to be shown separately, in which shares are for the time being held by the Corporation, and shall supply a copy of the list to any person on demand and on the payment of such reasonable charge as the Corporation may require.
(5)If any sum required by any judgment or order to be paid by a company which at the time of the judgment or order is a publicly-owned company, or has at any time since the cause of action arose been a publicly-owned company, is not paid by the company within fourteen days from the date on which execution becomes leviable to enforce the judgment or order, the Corporation shall be liable to pay that sum, and that judgment or order shall be enforceable against the Corporation accordingly.
(6)Where any such sum as is referred to in subsection (5) above is required to be paid in respect of a liability arising under a contract made by the company, the cause of action shall be deemed, for the purposes of that subsection, to have arisen at the time when the contract was made.