2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TEN - Commerce (§§ 1 — 4196) › Subtitle 1 - Regulation of Business Generally (§§ 1 — 998q) › Chapter 49A - Lease of Personal Property (§§ 996 — 996l) › § 996e - License—Expressed provisions; continuity of license; offices; change of control

(a) License. — Each license shall contain the office address where the business is to be carried out, and the name of the grantee. The license shall be posted in a conspicuous place within the premises of the authorized business.
(b) Continuity of license. — Each license shall remain in force provided the corresponding annual fees are paid or until it is waived or revoked. Every grantee shall renew his/her license by strict compliance with the laws and applicable regulations, the payment of the annual fee provided in this chapter and the presentation of all other information that the Commissioner requires, no later than December first of each year. If the payment and information required for renewal has not been received on or before December thirty-first, it shall be understood that the license has been waived. No other license shall be issued unless it is certified that the original license was lost, destroyed or that there was a change of address. In the last case, the original license shall be returned. Every grantee who pays the fees or submits the information required for renewal after December first of each year shall be subject to the imposition of an administrative fine as provided by this chapter.
(c) Offices. — A license shall be required and the fees stipulated in § 996c of this title shall be paid for each office established.
(d) Change of control. — No sale, acquisition, assignment, transfer, exchange or any other form of transfer or acquisition of the capital voting stock issued by any corporation, or of the share of partners in the capital of a partnership, engaged in the business of leasing personal property in Puerto Rico under this chapter, that may result in the control or in a change in the control of said corporation or partnership nor the sale, assignment, exchange or any other form of transfer of any individual business, in whole or in part, shall be made until the owner, president or other authorized executive official of said entity or individual business has informed and notified the Commissioner of the details of the proposed operation, has obtained his/her approval and the inspection fees established in this chapter have been paid.
For the purposes of this section, the term “control” means the power to decisively regulate or influence directly or indirectly in the management or the determination of the standards of the personal property leasing corporation or partnership. A change in the holding of voting stock that may result in the direct or indirect holding by an affiliated stockholder or stockholders of less than ten percent (10%) of the voting stock outstanding, or the direct or indirect holding by a partner of less than ten percent (10%) of the capital of a partnership engaged in the business of leasing personal property shall not be deemed as a change of control.
If there should be any question as to whether such operation shall result in the control or change of control of a corporation or partnership engaged in the business of leasing personal property, the pertinent information shall be submitted to the Commissioner who shall determine whether the proposed transaction constitutes a change of control.
The notice to the Commissioner shall contain information regarding the number of shares of voting stock and amount of the partnership’s capital involved in the operation, the name and address of the vendor or grantor and of the buyer or grantee; purchase price; total voting stock held by both vendor and buyer or grantee, or the proportion of the partnership’s capital owned by the vendor and the buyer or grantee, and the number of shares of voting stock outstanding issued by the corporation or the partnership’s stocks on the date the proposed operation is submitted.
It shall be the duty of the Commissioner as soon as he receives notice of a proposed operation that may result in control or change of control of a corporation or partnership for the leasing of personal property, to make the investigations he deems necessary with respect to:
(1) The reputation, experience and financial solvency of the buyer or grantee;
(2) whether such reputation, experience or solvency justifies the belief that the business shall be properly, legally and fairly managed within the purposes of the law, and
(3) whether the proposed transfer shall be convenient and profitable for the community within which the business will be operated and will not affect the public interest.
The Commissioner may issue the corresponding authorization within a term of sixty (60) days as of the date on which he receives all the documents related to the transfer of control of the corporation or partnership for the lease of personal property if the result of such investigations is, in his judgment, satisfactory.
History —May 8, 1973, No. 20, p. 71, § 6; July 23, 1974, No. 135, Part 1, p. 634, § 2; July 2, 1987, No. 91, p. 355, § 5; July 19, 1998, No. 154, § 1.