The issue A dispute arose between two sisters who were directors and shareholders of a catering business due to a breach of a shareholder’s agreement. The dispute had become very intense, to the point of near insolvency of the business. The sisters were concerned about the risk to creditors, a sum which was in excess of £96,000, and hired us for mediation in order to avoid this problem.
Mediation outcome Following mediation the sisters resolved their issue which allowed them to work on creating effective solutions for their creditors.
The issue We mediated in a shareholding dispute whereby a director had been excluded from a major sales contract meeting evening though he owned 39% of the shareholding in the company. The remaining two other directors did not wish him to participate in future sales meetings, refused to offer a salary increase or sell his shareholding. The director wanted the business sold as a going concern. He had tried for some 18 months to negotiate exit terms with legal representatives, which the remaining directors did not wish to participate in.
The Solution Following an initial court hearing the case was referred to mediation. It was agreed that the two remaining directors agreed to purchase the director’s shares at market value and to repay the salary increments they had paid to themselves and pay his legal costs
Our Approach The mediation took 1 day compared to the 17 months this shareholder dispute had already gone on. The cost of mediation was a fraction for each party compared to the thousands they had already spent on legal fees and the thousands they would have spent if they had continued with the court action.
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