A priced read of your exit
Before filing, a written estimate of the realistic buy-out range and the cost to get there.
A minority holder who is starved of information, distributions, or a fair exit has a statutory remedy, and a narrow window to use it well.
A company is controlled by those who hold the votes, but control is not a licence to oppress. Section 191 of the Companies Law lets a holder who is being unfairly prejudiced ask the court to order relief, including a forced buy-out. The hard part is rarely the principle. It is proving the pattern, valuing the stake, and choosing whether the goal is exit, restoration, or leverage.
The firm reads the company's own documents first, because oppression is usually admitted in the minutes, the cap table, and the distribution history before it is ever argued. It fixes the goal early - a clean exit is a different case from a fight to stay - because that choice drives the valuation theory and the forum. Where a transaction threatens to strip value mid-dispute, it moves for provisional relief rather than litigating into an empty shell.
Before filing, a written estimate of the realistic buy-out range and the cost to get there.
Provisional relief and a documented demand record so the majority cannot simply outwait you.
Most oppression matters resolve on a number; the firm builds toward that number rather than toward a trial it can avoid.
A holder in a privately held company, excluded from distributions and information while the controllers extracted value through related-party arrangements, instructs the firm. The engagement pairs a documented demand record with a section 191 posture to convert a stalled grievance into a priced buy-out negotiation, avoiding a multi-year trial.
Described in abbreviated, anonymised form to preserve client confidentiality.
It is the relief under section 191 of the Companies Law, which lets a shareholder who is being unfairly prejudiced ask the court to put an end to it, commonly by ordering the majority to buy the minority out at a fair value.
Often yes. A buy-out order is one of the most common forms of relief, but the price turns on the valuation date and method, which is where most of the real dispute lives.
There is no single fixed deadline, but delay weakens the claim and can be read as acceptance, so the demand record should start as soon as the pattern is clear.
No. Most oppression claims settle on a number; a credible petition and provisional relief are usually means to a negotiated exit, not to a trial.