huurtermijn

Huurtermijn is a Dutch corporate finance concept used in the field of share issues. It refers to the period of time during which an investor is required to withhold payment of a dividend or interest payment until a certain date. This concept is mainly relevant in situations where a company has a standing term that restricts the shareholder's right to a payment, or where a company has a "first-call" period during which shareholders are called upon to pay assessments before they can receive dividends.

In the Netherlands, the term is often used in conjunction with the Dutch corporate law concept of "eerdere hypotheken" or "earlier mortgages". The concept limits the shareholder's call option during the first year of formation of the company or within 3 years of the annual results. It restricts the right of the shareholder to receive a payment of a dividend or interest due until the retention period, known as the "huurtermijn", expires. The purpose of the concept is to allow the company to use any payment duties or eventual reserves available for three years after the annual results, without affecting the original mandatory minimum capital requirements.

Shareholders are not usually entitled to a repair of compounded interest on late receipts, implying returns paid on convergence should be returned to the public purse. However, shareholders are given "ex post" (relating to the future tense) the right to compensation that will be calculated at a given valuation date to be retroactively indemnified up until the shareholders receive former ones arrears.