Corporate Disputes
Taylor Wessing's Corporate Disputes group handles disputes relating to the rights and obligations of companies and their shareholders, investors and directors. In particular, the group has substantial experience in handling unfair prejudice claims brought by minority shareholders against the majority shareholders and directors.
In recent years we have increasingly advised UK and overseas private equity investors and VC funds on protecting their investments, whether by using litigation as a tool to extract them from problematic investments or recovering value where a fraud has been committed. For this, we rely on the relevant shareholder and joint venture agreement and the governance arrangements of the investee company. In particular, we advise investee directors on the balance required between obligations as director and as representative of the investor. Where one of the companies or individuals involved is regulated by the FCA/PRA, we also advise on the regulatory consequences of shareholders' or directors' conduct and have successfully applied this for clients as a pressure point. If the investee company is in financial difficulties, we draw upon our insolvency and restructuring capability to advise on and protect from directors' liabilities and the shift in duty towards the company as a whole to creditors.
The group places great emphasis on dispute avoidance advice to clients to minimise their dispute/litigation risk. We put forward innovative, creative and commercial solutions and resolutions, drawing on our expert knowledge of our clients and the sectors in which they operate.