Minority shareholders of the Kernel agroholding filed two lawsuits against its management, accusing it of acting to the detriment of the company and its shareholders. In this way, they stand in the way of the oligarch Andriy Verevsky, who wants to take over the holding.
- Eight shareholders of Kernel Holding have jointly filed two lawsuits against the company’s management in the court in Luxembourg, where the company is registered – financial industry media report.
- Thus, they torpedoed the plans of the Ukrainian oligarch Andriy Verevsky to quickly take over the holding and withdraw the company from the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Although the lawsuits in Luxembourg were filed by shareholders holding a total of 1.2 million shares, which constitutes only 0.4% of all issued shares of the company, the resolution of their demands, if not thwarted, will at least significantly delay the plans of the holding’s founder, who wants to own it again.
Lawsuits in Luxembourg
The defendants believe that the company’s management acted to its detriment and against the interests of its shareholders. Therefore, they are demanding the suspension of his decisions regarding the increase of the share capital and additional issues of shares, and the withdrawal of the company from the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In addition, they filed a request to suspend all actions taken by Namsen Limited, the company’s largest shareholder. This is a company owned by an oligarch through which Werewski purchased Kernel’s shares. In one of the lawsuits, minority shareholders also brought claims against this company.
War with shareholders
Kernel Holding was listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange for 17 years. Soon it will be a year since Werewski publicly announced his intention to regain ownership of the company he created. He assumed then that he would implement his plan within that time. However, instead of reaching an agreement with minority shareholders regarding the buyout of shares, he decided to push them to the wall.
It is worth recalling that in January this year The Independent Corporate Governance Commission of the Warsaw Stock Exchange stated that the additional issue of Kernel shares served the purposes of only one of the shareholders, contrary to the interests of the company’s other shareholders. Kernel Holding is the largest producer of sunflower oil in Ukraine and the largest grain exporter.
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