AMBROZIE was retained jointly by the shareholders of a Romanian construction company to mediate a deadlock between them. The dispute had built up around intra-group transactions and the way the company was being run. We reported the mandate in July as ongoing. It has now closed.
Being instructed by both sides changes the nature of the work. There is no case to construct for one shareholder against the other, and no advantage to be gained from delay. What is left is the part that decides these matters anyway: whether the two can agree on what the business is worth and on what terms one of them leaves it.
They could. One shareholder acquired the other's holding. Each now continues independently. No proceedings were commenced.
The matter was led by Alexandru Ambrozie, who sits on the panel of conciliators of the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre (CSALB). A joint instruction is the harder brief to accept and the cheaper one for the client.