Directors and Shareholders Disputes

The directors may be breaching their duties to the company, the shareholders may be unhappy with the remuneration that the directors may be receiving, minority shareholders may be unhappy with the decisions being taken by the majority shareholders, the majority shareholders may be unhappy with the conduct of the minority shareholders, the relationships between shareholders may be governed by a shareholders agreement whose terms were being ignored, there may be conflicting interests of directors: the list goes on.

These disputes are best settled by negotiation, however if not possible, or the actions require immediate intervention, then proceedings can be taken. What we can bring to the table is an understanding of the relationships involved and any competing interests.

We can take proceedings to remedy damages and breaches of duty, seek injunctions to prevent certain actions being taken, take minority prejudice actions under section 994 Companies Act 2006, or, if necessary, seek a just and equitable winding up of a company.

Recent examples of work in this area include:

• Acting for two shareholder directors in a deadlocked board where the other two shareholder directors were paying themselves substantial and unapproved remuneration.
• Acting for fifteen shareholders following the sale of a company where the majority shareholder made a secret profit on the price of his shares.

Each dispute is unique and we treat it as such, advising on the most sensible and cost effective solution tailored to you.