Our client held a minority stake in a small unlisted company, inherited through a prior international acquisition. The shareholding was strategically insignificant but would have prevented them entering the Indian market with another local partner. The majority shareholder, however, did not want them to exit and the relationship was bound by an extremely tight shareholders’ agreement limiting the courses of action available to our client.

After several months of discussions it became clear that the majority shareholder was not willing to agree to an amicable solution, and we sought and found a buyer who was wiling to purchase the stake in a "hostile" manner. This required advising our client to take a robust approach to the threat of litigation, which ultimately led to a successful disposal despite opposition in the Courts from the majority shareholder.

Following this successful exit the client re-entered India through a shareholding in a substantially larger Indian company within the sector.