February 11, 2021
The Royal Court of Jersey has recently handed down judgment in Financial Technology Ventures II (Q) LP and Ors v ETFS Capital Limited and Tuckwell [2021] JRC 025, a minority shareholders’ action seeking a share purchase order on the grounds of unfair prejudice or a just and equitable winding up. Following a four-week trial held in Jersey in October and November 2020, the Royal Court held that unfair prejudice had been established and that it would be open to it to make a winding up order, and granted relief by ordering the majority shareholder and/or the Company to buy out the minority shareholders’ shares. The plaintiff shareholders were US growth and venture capital firms who sought relief as a result of unfairly prejudicial conduct by the majority shareholder following the sale of substantially all of the assets of the company in 2018. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, nearly all the witnesses gave their evidence via video link.
Gregory Denton-Cox and Emma Horner acted for the successful petitioners. The full judgment can be found here.
