Shareholder Disputes
Shareholder disputes have the potential to significantly distract you from successfully running your business so they need to be addressed quickly and with a clear plan. Our dispute resolution team have extensive experience of advising shareholders and are specialists at planning strategies to resolve shareholder disputes.
What causes Shareholder Disputes?
Not having a shareholders’ agreement in place is a major cause of shareholder disputes.
Areas of Expertise:
- Abuse of power and breach of articles of association
- Disagreements over the payment of dividends
- Exclusion from involvement in management
- Failure to provide financial and statutory information
- The company being run for the benefit of majority shareholders
- The diversion of business to other companies in which the majority shareholders hold an interest
If you don’t already have a shareholders’ agreement, our Corporate team can prepare an agreement to help prevent disputes arising in the first place or at least to provide more certainty and therefore a quicker resolution if disputes do arise.
Resolving Shareholder Disputes
Our specialist team is dedicated to resolving shareholder disputes in the most cost-effective way possible, minimising any interruption to your business. If a negotiated resolution cannot be achieved we are experienced in advising on and pursuing court proceedings including unfair prejudice petitions under the Companies Act (normally in conjunction with expert forensic accountants for the purpose of valuing the business and the shareholdings), winding up petitions, derivative claims (bringing a claim in the name of the company, for instance for breach of directors duties where the director in breach controls the company so will not cause the company to make the claim), and seeking (or defending) injunctions to prevent breach of the company’s articles or shareholder agreements, breach of directors’ duties and other unfairly prejudicial conduct.
 | Nick Clarke Senior Partner & Head of Dispute Resolution & Insolvency |