In Italy you are actually compelled to do a "residual buy" if you own 90% of the company. This is supposed to protect small investors from finding themselves o

In Italy you are actually compelled to do a "residual buy" if you own 90% of the company. This is supposed to protect small investors from finding themselves owning shares they can't sell on the market anymore. The price is set by the equivalent of the SEC. If that fails to buy all the shares, the company must sell enough stock so that the market is again liquid enough. I _think_ many countries have similar rules, as cursory googling shows the London stock Exchange changed their minimum free float requirement some years ago.