Clifford Chance
New UAE Companies Law - Key Provisions
29 July 2013
The recent announcement that the UAE Federal National Council has approved a new Commercial Companies Law (New CCL) has been welcomed by legal and industry commentators alike. The New CCL continues the development of the UAE into a global standard market and business environment, and helps to clarify a number of issues under the current commercial companies law.
This Clifford Chance briefing is based on the Westlaw English translation of the New CCL, and highlights some of the key changes that the New CCL introduces to the statutory regime applicable to commercial companies in the UAE. Significant developments include:
- explicit provision for the creation and registration of a pledge over shares in an LLC
- non-pre-emptive issuance of new shares to "strategic investors"
- the removal of the requirement that the value of bonds issued must not exceed a company's capital
- a statutory concept and objective of the promotion of social responsibility for commercial companies
- a new prohibition on companies providing finance assistance to a shareholder to enable them to hold securities issued by that company.
