Chapter III · Shares · Section III · Own shares

Article 322 Loans and guarantees for the acquisition of own shares

Artigo 322.º · Empréstimos e garantias para aquisição de acções próprias

Código das Sociedades Comerciais · Decree-Law No. 262/86 · consolidated text checked 26 October 2026

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1. A company may not grant loans, or in any way provide funds or give guarantees, for a third party to subscribe for or otherwise acquire shares representing its capital.

1 - Uma sociedade não pode conceder empréstimos ou por qualquer forma fornecer fundos ou prestar garantias para que um terceiro subscreva ou por outro meio adquira acções representativas do seu capital.

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2. Paragraph 1 does not apply to transactions falling within the ordinary business of banks or other financial institutions, nor to operations carried out with a view to the acquisition of shares by or for the employees of the company or of a company affiliated with it; however, such transactions and operations may not result in the company’s net assets falling below the amount of the subscribed capital plus the reserves that the law or the articles of association do not permit to be distributed.

2 - O disposto no n.º 1 não se aplica às transacções que se enquadrem nas operações correntes dos bancos ou de outras instituições financeiras, nem às operações efectuadas com vista à aquisição de acções pelo ou para o pessoal da sociedade ou de uma sociedade com ela coligada; todavia, de tais transacções e operações não pode resultar que o activo líquido da sociedade se torne inferior ao montante do capital subscrito acrescido das reservas que a lei ou o contrato de sociedade não permitam distribuir.

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3. Contracts or unilateral acts of the company that infringe paragraph 1 or the final part of paragraph 2 are void.

3 - Os contratos ou actos unilaterais da sociedade que violem o disposto no n.º 1 ou na parte final do n.º 2 são nulos.

What we checked in this article

The prohibition on financial assistance, the two exceptions (ordinary banking business and employee share schemes), the net-asset floor of subscribed capital plus undistributable reserves, and the nullity sanction are retained.

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Unofficial English translation prepared by BCA Portugal for reference. Only the Portuguese text published in the Diário da República has legal force. Editorial notes are ours and are not part of the statute.

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