The Arbitral Tribunal dismissed Apetit Plc's claims concerning Nordic Sugar's alleged breaches of the shareholder agreement. Furthermore, the Arbitral Tribunal dismissed Nordic Sugar's counter-claim against Apetit Plc over Apetit's alleged actions in breach of the shareholder agreement in connection with the dismissal of Sucros Ltd’s managing director.
In accordance with the Arbitral Tribunal’s decision, neither party is obligated to pay a contractual penalty to the other party. The Arbitral Tribunal ordered Apetit Plc to pay part of the fees of the Arbitral Tribunal and to compensate part of the Nordic Sugar’s legal costs. In total, the cost impact to Apetit Plc is approximately EUR 2.4 million. Apetit Plc will enter the expenses and allowances as negative non-recurring item under the Other Operations segment's other operating expenses in the third quarter 2014. During the process, Apetit Plc has already entered its own legal costs as non-recurring items under the Other Operations segment's other operating expenses in 2012-2014.
Apetit Plc and Nordic Sugar Oy are joint owners of Sucros Ltd, a company engaged in the processing and marketing of sugar in Finland. Nordic Sugar Oy, the majority shareholder, owns 80 per cent of the company's shares, while Apetit Plc owns 20 per cent. Under the shareholder agreement, Apetit Plc has special protection as the minority owner.
The now completed arbitral process was initiated in October 2011, when Apetit Plc decided to submit the dispute concerning the shareholder agreement to the Arbitral Tribunal. In Apetit's view, the majority owner, Nordic Sugar, had repeatedly violated Apetit’s minority rights in Sucros Ltd with its decision-making and actions. Since, despite the objections made, the majority owner did not rectify its practices, Apetit Plc filed three claims in the Arbitral Tribunal against Nordic Sugar. During the arbitral process Nordic Sugar filed a counter-claim concerning alleged breach of the shareholder agreement in connection with the dismissal of Sucros Ltd’s managing director.
APETIT PLC
Veijo Meriläinen
CEO
FURTHER INFORMATION
Veijo Meriläinen, CEO, +358 10 402 00
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NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd
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www.apetitgroup.fi
