Walless has successfully helped Latvia's state-owned SIA Publisko Aktivu Parvalditajs Possessor recover EUR 1.9 million in damages in a lawsuit against Grindeks shareholders Kirovs Lipmans and Filips Lipmans.
JSC Grindeks is a Latvian company listed on the Nasdaq Riga that produces pharmaceutical drugs, medicine, and phytochemical medicine. The company was founded in 1991 and has been a joint stock company since 1997.
According to Walless, SIA Publisko Aktivu Parvalditajs Possessor filed an “unprecedented claim for damages caused to the state as a minority shareholder due to the failure of Grindeks majority shareholders to make a mandatory buyout offer, which led to a loss of approximately EUR 2 million to the state budget." According to the firm, "this case is unique in Latvia since, first of all, it is one of the first claims made under the Financial Instrument Market Law of the Republic of Latvia and second, it aims to collect damages that the state has incurred as a shareholder of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies due to the breach of an obligation set by the Financial Instrument Market Law of the Republic of Latvia.”
Finally, according to Walless, “although the law envisages that majority shareholders are obliged to offer a buyout of shares to the other shareholders, there is no practice where shareholders failing to comply with this obligation would have been sued for damages. Thus, this case is unprecedented in Latvia and will be the source for new case law.”
Walless’s team was led by Partner Martins Mezinskis.
Editor's Note: On January 19, 2022, Walles announced that the Riga Regional Court decision awarding more than EUR 1.9 million in damages is now final and not subject to appeal. According to the firm, "the Lipmans family filed a cassation appeal, but the Department of Civil Cases of the Supreme Court decided against initiating cassation proceedings. This means that the regional court’s judgment has become final," with the defendants having to pay the amount back to the State Treasury.
