I have recently acted in a number of SME (small to medium size
enterprises) shareholder disputes requiring my disputes and
insolvency expertise. These disputes came about as result of
diminishing profits and the financial pressures then faced by the
directors. I have seen many other triggers cause a serious
breakdown of trust between SME owners and a consequent dispute or
management deadlock.
The disputes have included allegations of a majority shareholder
unfairly earning too much, a shareholder simply wanting to retire
or wind down their involvement and a breach of duty by one
director. Once trust has been lost between directors or
shareholders, the dispute can quickly become too difficult to
settle. A useful tool for helping to prevent these disputes, or to
aide their quicker resolution, is to start the relationship with a
bespoke shareholders agreement, negotiated after independent
advice. This is even more advisable when one of the shareholders
will be a
