Shareholder Dispute Resolution
Where disputes arise between shareholders, or other stakeholders, or conflicting interpretations have been placed on existing rules of governance, KSA Corporate Advisors can provide an impartial, educated and experienced element of negotiation and informal mediation to ensure an equitable and practical outcome. Dispute resolution in this manner is quicker and far less costly than a formal mediation process or legal proceeding, and generally has little impact on the day-to-day operations of the business. Our experience has shown that after our involvement, relationships between the parties are far more cooperative and productive, and drawn out, adversarial conflicts have been avoided.
Case Study
The majority shareholder and founder had been out of the country for 8 years. During this period the key management, who were minority shareholders, built up the business. They wanted a greater share of the business and offered to buy this from the majority shareholder, but couldn’t agree on a market value. As time went on, the relationship between the founder and his key managers became strained. The managers quit and obtained financial backing to start an opposition business. The founder sued them in the Supreme Court. We managed to bring the parties together for a mediation, negotiated an agreed value for the shares over a period of a few weeks, and effected a management buyout. All claims by the parties against each other were set aside as part of the settlement.