Share capital or investment? Pre-emptive mediation

This question is a very common cause of boardroom disputes, especially between directors and shareholders who are passive, commonly known as sleeping investors.

Inheritance creates a shareholder dispute

Three children had the task of splitting up the estate of their parents.

Following the grant of probate it rapidly became clear that each sibling had very different views on how to deal with the primary assets, a large plot of land with mixed industrial use as well as several acres that were neglected and had decaying buildings sitting on them.

Management Wants Shares

This business was started from scratch by a very entrepreneurially minded chap who started on his own precisely because his former employer refused to recognise his contribution to building the business, both in term of remuneration and with a stake in the business. Now he faced a similar challenge from a member of his team who worked hard and helped drive the business to its current heights but nonetheless was limited in a narrow range of ability and lacked the necessary qualifications and experience to take it to the next level.

Brother & Sister Shareholder Dispute

Boardroom disputes are never pleasant but when it involves a family business it takes on a whole new dimension, both in terms of ugliness and in willingness for both parties to reach a resolution.

Not only is the mediator searching for ways to bring the parties closer on the commercial aspect, he or she is also dealing with a family feud, and needs to determine which is the cause and which is the effect.

The mediation is not only facilitative, but it also veers into the transformational arena, meaning that it is about changing or at least managing how the parties view each other as people.

Manager Wants Rewarded For Saving Business

Managers often feel their contribution should be recognised by having an equity stake in the business, which might be justified or it could be a pipe dream. Find out how this business responded to a manager who was instrumental in keeping the business afloat by lending her own funds into the business to help with cashflow.