Corporate Disputes

In an M&A dispute, can you stop the target's subsidiaries from taking measures that threaten to dissipate their assets, thus de-evaluating the parent company?

This was a question that was very recently put before the Austrian Supreme Court ( 6 Ob 142/19d).

The Facts

The underlying dispute arose after a Brazilian investment company contracted to acquire 100% of the shares in one of the largest pulp producers in that country. After 49,41% of the shares had been transferred to the buyer, the seller stalled ("torpedoed") the transfer of the second tranche of the shares to the buyer, prompting the buyer to initiate ICC arbitration proceedings in Brazil against the seller and the target company.