Key Points:
Part 5.3A of the Corporations Act is not the appropriate
mechanism for resolving shareholder disputes.
Sometimes, being creative with the law can end up creating more
problems than it solves.
Take shareholder disputes, for example. The Corporations Act
2001 (Cth) provides three avenues for resolution. Minority
oppression cases and the winding up of a solvent company on the
just and equitable ground under section 461(1)(k) of the Act
requires an application be made to the court and usually, descends
into time-consuming and expensive disputes about the facts.
Reference should also be made to the possibility of voluntary
liquidation, which does not involve the court but which, like
winding up on the just and equitable ground, ultimately involves
the company's ceasing to carry on business and being dissolved
(which may not be what the parties want).
