Q.A public company that does not invite the general public to subscribe for its shares, having arranged its entire capital privately, is required to file with the Registrar of Companies a document called ______.

Even without a public invitation, the law still requires an equivalent disclosure document to be filed. …

The correct option is (c) Statement in Lieu of Prospectus. When a public company raises its capital privately — through its own promoters, directors and their contacts — without inviting the general public, it issues no prospectus at all, since there is no public invitation to respond to. The law nonetheless requires the company to file a Statement in Lieu of Prospectus with the Registrar of Companies before allotting any shares, disclosing broadly the same categories of information a prospectus would have disclosed, so that the standard of investor protection does not depend on whether capital was raised publicly or privately.

The other options are incorrect:

(a) A Prospectus is issued only when the company actually invites the general public to subscribe — the question specifically describes a company that does NOT do this. …

Students sometimes assume that any public company, by definition, must issue a prospectus. A public company that arranges its capital privately (a common situation for a converted private company) n …