Shareholder disputes and activism are giving rise to increasingly more litigation across jurisdictions. Conyers lawyers have experience in a range of shareholder and merger litigation disputes that will help achieve optimal outcomes for your business.
Our lawyers advise on highly complex shareholder disputes, particularly those arising out of breach of shareholder agreements, takeovers and minority oppression situations. We also advise on contentious shareholder meetings and partnership disputes.
We have specific experience in merger-related disputes – for example, in the Cayman Islands in disputes arising from listed entities engaging in ‘go private’ deals involving companies incorporated in the jurisdiction and leading to shareholders seeking to exercise their rights under local legislation.
Your Conyers Dispute Resolution team advises companies, the Special Committee, lenders and shareholders in dissent proceedings. We provide Bermuda, BVI and Cayman Islands advice to clients from our offices in those jurisdictions and in London, Singapore and Hong Kong, operating around the clock as one team to ensure you have real-time advice and solutions across wherever and whenever you need them.
Highlight Cases
- Acting for East Asia Company in opposing an appeal to the Privy Council. The dispute arose over the ownership of shares in an Indonesian thermal energy plant. The shares were sold by the directors alleged to have acted in breach of their fiduciary duties and without authority. At first instance the purchaser was held to have obtained title to the shares. The Court of Appeal and Privy Council upheld the appeal of the original owners.
- Acting for respondent in unfair prejudice claims.
- Acting for claimant in relation to the shares in a BVI company which ultimately owns one of the top four luxury villa estates in Shanghai.
- Acting for the respondent in the appeal to the Privy Council in a long running shareholder dispute – one of the leading Privy Council BVI decisions in the context of shareholder disputes, with US$100 million at stake.
- Representing a major founding shareholder in litigation in the Cayman Islands regarding a battle for control over Bitmain, one of the largest Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturers.
- Advising and representing Changyou.com Limited in defending a dissenting minority shareholder petition for the Court for the appraisal of the fair value of its shares under section 238 of the Companies Act, after a statutory merger. This was the first reported case to involve a consideration of the ‘short-form’ merger provisions of section 233(7) of the Companies Act, in the case of a parent and subsidiary merger, having regard to the provisions of the Cayman Islands’ Constitution.
- Acting for the joint provisional liquidators of Seahawk China Dynamic Fund in a dispute relating to allegations of ultra vires actions, dishonesty and unauthorised payments. The majority shareholder presented a winding-up petition on just and equitable grounds in the Cayman Islands and applied for the appointment of the Joint Provisional Liquidators to manage third party relationships, “hold the fort” and preserve value in an active portfolio. The Conyers team also applied to seek novel recognition relief in Hong Kong and the UK in relation to a solvent provisional liquidation.