Government has agreed to stop its compulsory acquisition of shares from about 2000 Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) minority shareholders after it was sued for breaching the Companies Act.
Minority shareholder Seravina Lutu sued the Ministry of Economy permanent secretary, the Attorney-General and the FSC in November last year.
All parties consented yesterday to orders by which Government would stop its compulsory acquisition.
The Government, which holds 90 per cent of FSC’s shares, sent a notice in March last year to all minority shareholders that it would be buying their shares for half a cent each, using compulsory acquisition rules under the Companies Act.
Mrs Lutu’s lawyers, Munro Leys, sued the Government and FSC, saying that the Government’s actions breached the takeover rules in the Companies Act.
Mrs Lutu had claimed in her proceedings that the Government had not met the requirements of the Companies Act entitling it to acquire her shares and said she had received no independent or objective assessment of the value of her shares.
She claimed the Government’s actions had breached the principles governing takeovers in the Companies Act.
In a statement yesterday, Munro Leys partner Richard Naidu said the Government had agreed to withdraw the compulsory acquisition notice.
“The parties agreed to orders (yesterday) before High Court judge Vishwa Datt Sharma that the Government’s compulsory acquisition notices were withdrawn,” he said.
“The court ordered, with the Government’s consent, that the Government should tell the minority shareholders about withdrawal of its notices within two weeks of being served with the formal orders of the High Court.”
