Är ABL:s värdeöverföringsregler tillämpliga på aktiebolags agerande som komplementär i kommanditbolag?
(2014) JURM02 20141Department of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Eftersom aktieägare i aktiebolag inte är personligt ansvariga för aktiebolags förpliktelser, så återfinns värdeöverföringsregler i 17 kap. ABL (Aktiebolagslag 2005:551). Dessa syftar till att tillvarata borgenär-kollektivets intressen genom att hindra olika transaktioner eller förmögenhetsdispositioner som riskerar att urholka aktiebolags kapitalbas.
Ett kommanditbolag är ett handelsbolag där vissa av bolagsmännen enbart har ett begränsat ansvar för bolagets förpliktelser. Kommanditbolag utgör självständiga rättssubjekt i förhållande till bolagsmännen, vilka vanligtvis äger andelsrätter i kommanditbolaget som bl.a. innefattar en rätt till andel i vinst. Bolagsmän med obegränsat ansvar för bolagets förpliktelser, s.k. komplementärer, har... (More) - Eftersom aktieägare i aktiebolag inte är personligt ansvariga för aktiebolags förpliktelser, så återfinns värdeöverföringsregler i 17 kap. ABL (Aktiebolagslag 2005:551). Dessa syftar till att tillvarata borgenär-kollektivets intressen genom att hindra olika transaktioner eller förmögenhetsdispositioner som riskerar att urholka aktiebolags kapitalbas.
Ett kommanditbolag är ett handelsbolag där vissa av bolagsmännen enbart har ett begränsat ansvar för bolagets förpliktelser. Kommanditbolag utgör självständiga rättssubjekt i förhållande till bolagsmännen, vilka vanligtvis äger andelsrätter i kommanditbolaget som bl.a. innefattar en rätt till andel i vinst. Bolagsmän med obegränsat ansvar för bolagets förpliktelser, s.k. komplementärer, har stort inflytande över kommanditbolagets verksamhet genom en självständig rätt att fatta förvaltningsbeslut och företräda kommanditbolaget gentemot tredje män.
Ett aktiebolag som är komplementär kan således påverka värdet på sina andelsrätter genom ageranden i eller för kommanditbolaget. Denna framställnings frågeställning är huruvida ABL:s värdeöverföringsregler är tillämpliga på aktiebolags agerande som komplementär i kommanditbolag. Denna rättsfråga regleras inte uttryckligen av varken värdeöverförings-reglerna, kommanditbolagsformens allmänna reglering, eller rättspraxis. Rättsläget måste således anses vara oklart.
Framställningen har varken funnit rättsligt stöd eller relevanta skäl för att värdeöverföringsreglernas tillämpning på aktiebolags ageranden i kommanditbolag generellt strider mot rättspraxis eller kommandit-bolagsrättslig reglering. Det har heller inte funnits relevanta skäl för att en sådan tillämpning i enlighet med värdeöverföringsreglernas lagstadgade tillämpningsområde skulle medföra en risk för omsättningsintresset.
Framställningen har dock funnit rättsligt stöd för att aktiebolags ageranden i kommanditbolag torde kunna omfattas av värdeöverföringsreglernas lagstadgade tillämpningsområde, beroende på omständigheterna i det enskilda fallet. Denna bedömning kompliceras dock bl.a. av svårigheterna att dels fastställa andelsrätters värdeförändringar, och dels fastställa orsakssamband mellan sådana värdeförändringar och vissa kategorier av ageranden i kommanditbolag. Vidare har framställningen även funnit relevanta ändamålskäl för värdeöverföringsreglernas tillämplighet, då motsatsen torde medföra att värdeöverföringsreglerna kan kringgås genom att aktiebolag överför sina verksamheter till kontrollerade kommanditbolag.
Framställningen har således kommit till slutsatsen att det torde finnas rättsligt stöd samt relevanta skäl för att ABL:s värdeöverföringsregler är tillämpliga på aktiebolags ageranden som komplementär i kommanditbolag, förutsatt att omständigheterna i det enskilda fallet uppfyller den lagstadgade definitionen av värdeöverföringsreglernas tillämpningsområde. (Less) - Abstract
- Since shareholders of Swedish limited companies are not personally liable for the company’s obligations, the Swedish Companies Act (SFS 2005:551) contains provisions regarding value transfers from the company. These provisions aim to protect the interest of creditors by prohibiting business transactions or transfers of assets, which may reduce a company’s amount of equity, below certain statutory requirements. A Swedish limited partnership is a partnership in which one or more of the partners have a limited personal liability for the partnership’s obligations. A limited partnership is an independent legal entity, whose profit is distributed among its group of shareholders, which usually consists of the partners. The general partners, who... (More)
- Since shareholders of Swedish limited companies are not personally liable for the company’s obligations, the Swedish Companies Act (SFS 2005:551) contains provisions regarding value transfers from the company. These provisions aim to protect the interest of creditors by prohibiting business transactions or transfers of assets, which may reduce a company’s amount of equity, below certain statutory requirements. A Swedish limited partnership is a partnership in which one or more of the partners have a limited personal liability for the partnership’s obligations. A limited partnership is an independent legal entity, whose profit is distributed among its group of shareholders, which usually consists of the partners. The general partners, who are jointly and severally liable for the obligations of the limited partnership, are to a great extent entitled to take measures related to the management of the business of the partnership, and to act as agents of the partnership in relation to third parties.
If a limited company is a general partner of a limited partnership, its management and acting on behalf of the limited partnership may influence the value of the shares in the partnership. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the provisions of the Swedish Companies Act regarding value transfers are applicable to limited companies’ managing and acting on behalf of limited partnerships as general partners. Neither a general account of the provisions regarding value transfers, nor the general provisions regarding Swedish limited partnerships, clear up this legal question and the legal position is unclear.
According to the investigation presented in this thesis, no relevant legal grounds or reasons have been found to support the claim that the applicability of the provisions regarding value transfers, on limited companies’ managing and acting on behalf of limited partnerships as general partners, is in violation with case law or the general rules governing limited partnerships. Neither has this investigation found any relevant reasons to support the claim that the applicability of the provisions regarding value transfers compromises the interest of economic efficiency, provided that the applicability is limited to the statutory scope of these provisions.
On the other hand, this thesis presents relevant legal grounds to support the claim that limited companies’ managing and acting on behalf of limited partnerships as general partners may meet the requirements of the statutory scope of the provisions regarding value transfers, depending on the circumstances subject to assessment. Furthermore, this thesis presents relevant reasons to support the applicability of the provisions regarding value transfers to such circumstances, mainly because limited companies would otherwise be able to circumvent these provisions by transferring their assets to limited partnerships. However, this thesis also recognizes the practical difficulties of assessing the value of shares in limited partnerships, as well as determining causality between different measures of managing a limited partnership and declines in value of shares in limited partnerships.
The conclusion of this thesis is that there are enough relevant legal grounds and reasons to support the applicability of the provisions of the Swedish Companies Act regarding value transfers on limited companies’ managing and acting on behalf of limited partnerships as general partners, provided that the actual measure of managing, acting, and other circumstances in a specific individual case, are in accordance with the statutory scope of these provisions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4450690
- author
- Svenburg, Oskar LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- The applicability of the provisions regarding value transfers on limited companies' managing and acting on behalf of limited partnerships
- course
- JURM02 20141
- year
- 2014
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- associationsrätt förmögenhetsrätt civilrätt
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 4450690
- date added to LUP
- 2014-06-17 13:53:22
- date last changed
- 2014-06-17 13:53:22
@misc{4450690,
abstract = {{Since shareholders of Swedish limited companies are not personally liable for the company’s obligations, the Swedish Companies Act (SFS 2005:551) contains provisions regarding value transfers from the company. These provisions aim to protect the interest of creditors by prohibiting business transactions or transfers of assets, which may reduce a company’s amount of equity, below certain statutory requirements. A Swedish limited partnership is a partnership in which one or more of the partners have a limited personal liability for the partnership’s obligations. A limited partnership is an independent legal entity, whose profit is distributed among its group of shareholders, which usually consists of the partners. The general partners, who are jointly and severally liable for the obligations of the limited partnership, are to a great extent entitled to take measures related to the management of the business of the partnership, and to act as agents of the partnership in relation to third parties.
If a limited company is a general partner of a limited partnership, its management and acting on behalf of the limited partnership may influence the value of the shares in the partnership. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the provisions of the Swedish Companies Act regarding value transfers are applicable to limited companies’ managing and acting on behalf of limited partnerships as general partners. Neither a general account of the provisions regarding value transfers, nor the general provisions regarding Swedish limited partnerships, clear up this legal question and the legal position is unclear.
According to the investigation presented in this thesis, no relevant legal grounds or reasons have been found to support the claim that the applicability of the provisions regarding value transfers, on limited companies’ managing and acting on behalf of limited partnerships as general partners, is in violation with case law or the general rules governing limited partnerships. Neither has this investigation found any relevant reasons to support the claim that the applicability of the provisions regarding value transfers compromises the interest of economic efficiency, provided that the applicability is limited to the statutory scope of these provisions.
On the other hand, this thesis presents relevant legal grounds to support the claim that limited companies’ managing and acting on behalf of limited partnerships as general partners may meet the requirements of the statutory scope of the provisions regarding value transfers, depending on the circumstances subject to assessment. Furthermore, this thesis presents relevant reasons to support the applicability of the provisions regarding value transfers to such circumstances, mainly because limited companies would otherwise be able to circumvent these provisions by transferring their assets to limited partnerships. However, this thesis also recognizes the practical difficulties of assessing the value of shares in limited partnerships, as well as determining causality between different measures of managing a limited partnership and declines in value of shares in limited partnerships.
The conclusion of this thesis is that there are enough relevant legal grounds and reasons to support the applicability of the provisions of the Swedish Companies Act regarding value transfers on limited companies’ managing and acting on behalf of limited partnerships as general partners, provided that the actual measure of managing, acting, and other circumstances in a specific individual case, are in accordance with the statutory scope of these provisions.}},
author = {{Svenburg, Oskar}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Är ABL:s värdeöverföringsregler tillämpliga på aktiebolags agerande som komplementär i kommanditbolag?}},
year = {{2014}},
}