We worked with a family-owned business worth around £3m, helping them in a dispute with minority shareholders (shareholders who owned less than 50% of the shares in the company).
The shareholders claimed that the business had failed to pay out dividends to them correctly in the past. The dispute happened when the company bought back shares from a deceased shareholder. When this happened, the minority shareholders discovered that they owned shares worth around £350,000 that had been gifted to them without their knowledge.
We helped the company to evaluate the claim, understand the potential tax implications of the situation, and decide on the best way to structure a deal if they were to buy back the shares.
We successfully negotiated a confidential settlement agreement that resulted in the company making a payment towards the unpaid dividends claim and purchasing the minority shareholders’ shares. This allowed the company and the minority shareholders to part ways cleanly.
