A person meets the independence requirement for the purposes of section 909 or 924 (expert's report) or section 935 (valuation by another person) only if—
he is not—
an officer or employee of any of the companies concerned in the scheme, or
a partner or employee of such a person, or a partnership of which such a person is a partner;
he is not—
an officer or employee of an associated undertaking of any of the companies concerned in the scheme, or
a partner or employee of such a person, or a partnership of which such a person is a partner; and
there does not exist between—
the person or an associate of his, and
any of the companies concerned in the scheme or an associated undertaking of such a company,
a connection of any such description as may be specified by regulations made by the Secretary of State.
An auditor of a company is not regarded as an officer or employee of the company for this purpose.
For the purposes of this section—
the "companies concerned in the scheme" means every transferor and existing transferee company;
"associated undertaking", in relation to a company, means—
a parent undertaking or subsidiary undertaking of the company, or
a subsidiary undertaking of a parent undertaking of the company; and
"associate" has the meaning given by section 937.
Regulations under this section are subject to negative resolution procedure.