CA halts Alliance Select stockholders’ meeting

MANILA, Philippines - The legal battle between majority and minority shareholders of listed tuna company Alliance Select Foods International, Inc. continued yesterday after the minority shareholders successfully secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) that effectively prevented the company from proceeding with its annual stockholders’ meeting.

“Earlier today, the company received a Temporary Restraining Order dated 16 December 2015 from the Court of Appeals, enjoining the Company and all officials acting under its authority and control to maintain and preserve the status quo pending resolution of the Petition for Review (with Prayer for the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order and/or Preliminary Injunction) filed by Harvest All Investment Limited, Victory Fund Limited, Bondeast Private Limited, Albert Hong Hin Kay, and Hedy Yap Chua with the Court of Appeals on 10 September 2015,” Alliance Select said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday.

At 2:30 p.m. yesterday, the company was ready to proceed with stockholders’ meeting at Ming’s Bistro at the PSE Tower in Tektite, Ortigas.

However, because of the TRO, Alliance Select was constrained to defer the holding of the company’s annual stockholders meeting. Instead, management announced to shareholders that the company received a TRO.

The court said the company should maintain the status quo pending resolution of the petition for review filed by the concerned shareholders.

The minority bloc has claimed that the company’s directors and officers are violating basic stockholder rights by requiring shareholders to subscribe to a P1-billion capital raising exercise before holding the company’s 2015 annual general meeting (AGM), which was supposedly slated on June 15, 2015.