CG53530 - Securities: debts: company purchase of own debentures

Where a company buys its own debentures at less than their nominal value and cancels them, there will be no chargeable gain on the company. The difference between the company’s acquisition price and the nominal value of the debentures does not derive from the disposal of an asset. In law, a person cannot be the holder of their own debt. The buying-in of the debenture liability should, therefore, be treated as equivalent to the redemption of a debt.