Document Fragment View
Fragment Information
Showing contexts for: Oppressor in Bagree Cereals (P.) Ltd. And Ors. vs Hanuman Prasad Bagri And Ors. on 18 August, 2000Matching Fragments
37. Then his Lordship went on to say that a useful order which enables the court to do justice to injured shareholders (page 33) : "is to order the oppressor to buy their shares at a fair price ; and a fair price would be, I think, the value which the shares would have had at the date of the petition, if there had been no oppression". Thus, although the shares of the company at the time of hearing were practically worthless, yet the appellants were ordered to purchase the respondents' shares at 3 15s. each.
"In many cases, however, the winding up of the company will not benefit the minority shareholders, since the break-up value of the assets may be small, or the only available purchaser may be that very majority whose oppression has driven the minority to seek redress."
46. The prescience shown in this paragraph is peculiarly brought out by the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd.'s case [1959] 29 Comp Cas 1 (HL). There the oppressors bought the shares and there the oppressors had brought down the share value of the minority to a mere nothing. However, we do not find in this part of the report anything which would relieve the company petitioners to show why winding up will unjustly prejudice him. He might show it by showing the fallen value of the company's share but show it he must.