2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 35. Corporations, Partnerships, and Associations › Chapter 14. Montana Business Corporation Act › Part 12. Disposition of Assets › 35-14-1202. Shareholder approval of certain dispositions

35-14-1202. Shareholder approval of certain dispositions.
(1) A sale, lease, exchange, or other disposition of assets, other than a disposition described in 35-14-1201, requires approval of the corporation's shareholders if the disposition would leave the corporation without a significant continuing business activity. A corporation is conclusively held to have retained a significant continuing business activity if it retains a business activity that represented, for the corporation and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis, at least:
(a) 25% of total assets at the end of the most recently completed fiscal year; and
(b) either 25% of income from continuing operations before taxes or 25% of revenue from continuing operations, in each case for the most recently completed fiscal year.
(2) (a) To obtain the approval of the shareholders under subsection (1), the board of directors shall first adopt a resolution authorizing the disposition. The disposition must then be approved by the shareholders. In submitting the disposition to the shareholders for approval, the board of directors shall recommend that the shareholders approve the disposition unless:
(i) the board of directors makes a determination that because of conflicts of interest or other special circumstances it should not make the recommendation; or
(ii) 35-14-826 applies.
(b) If either subsection (2)(a)(i) or (2)(a)(ii) applies, the board shall inform the shareholders of the basis for its determination.
(3) The board of directors may set conditions for the approval by the shareholders of a disposition or for the effectiveness of the disposition.
(4) If a disposition is required to be approved by the shareholders under subsection (1) and if the approval is to be given at a meeting, the corporation shall notify each shareholder, regardless of whether entitled to vote, of the meeting of shareholders at which the disposition is to be submitted for approval. The notice must state that the purpose or one of the purposes of the meeting is to consider the disposition and must contain a description of the disposition, including the terms and conditions of the disposition and the consideration to be received by the corporation.
(5) Unless the articles of incorporation require a greater vote or a lesser vote, approval of the disposition requires the approval of a majority of the votes entitled to be cast on the disposition and, if any class or series of shares is entitled to vote as a separate group on the disposition, the approval of a majority of the votes entitled to be cast on the disposition by that voting group. The articles of incorporation may not provide a lower quorum for a voting group than shares representing a majority of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter by the voting group or a lesser vote for a voting group than is provided for in 35-14-725(3).
(6) After a disposition has been approved by the shareholders under this part and at any time before the disposition has been consummated, it may be abandoned by the corporation without action by the shareholders, subject to any contractual rights of other parties to the disposition.
(7) A disposition of assets in the course of dissolution under part 14 of this chapter is not governed by this section.
(8) The assets of a direct or indirect consolidated subsidiary are the assets of the parent corporation for the purposes of this section.
History: En. Sec. 170, Ch. 271, L. 2019.