Former rally driver Alistair Cavenagh has secured a reprieve in a shareholding fight involving control of a company that runs the exclusive Vipingo Ridge Golf Resort in Kilifi County.
This is after the Court of Appeal barred his co-directors- Christopher Gordon Horsey and David Horsey, from dealing in any manner with the shares held by their company, First European Finance Investment (Fefi) Limited, which owns the entities that control the multi-million-shilling resort.
The entities are Sunsail Trading Company Limited, Vipingo Ridge Limited and Vipingo Beach Limited, which have a major say in the business management of the resort. Mr Cavenagh owns shares in the companies previously owned by his business partner David Mitchell.
At the centre of the legal dispute is a $600 million (Sh77.5 billion) business deal between Mr Cavenagh and Mr Gordon and Mr Horsey (Horseys) on financing the acquisition of the sale of shares at Fefi in 2018.
The dispute concerns the control of Fefi, an offshore company incorporated in Mauritius as a special-purpose vehicle.
Court papers indicate that sometime in 2004, Mr Cavenagh and Mr Mitchell incorporated a company to acquire a property for the purposes of developing a golf course, which they did through the companies, and invited the Horseys as investors.
The dispute also concerns the alleged purchase of shares by David from Mr Cavenagh, whose price was said to have been re-negotiated to $1 million less.
"An injunction granted to restrain Christopher, David and Fefi from dealing in any manner with the shares held by Fefi in Sunsail Trading Company Limited, Vipingo Ridge Limited and Vipingo Beach Limited pending hearing and determination of the intended appeal," ordered the Court of Appeal.
The three-judge bench comprising Justices Imana Laibuta, Agnes Murgor and Grace Ngenye-Macharia observed that it would be difficult to undo any changes that may occur in the ownership or control of the company during the pendency of the legal dispute.
Mr Cavenagh moved to the court of appeal after the High Court rejected his application to amend his case to avert changes on the shareholding of Fefi pending the determination of the legal dispute.
In the ruling dated August 22, 2024, the High Court also dismissed his application to order accounts to be taken to ascertain the amounts expended by the Horseys in acquiring shares held by Fefi.
Asking the court of appeal to intervene, Mr Cavenagh pleaded that his co-directors had undertaken various activities to take over the possession and control of the companies.
"If left unchecked, the respondents’ conduct will be to the detriment of the company and further erode the value of its shares, thereby rendering the intended appeal nugatory," his advocates told the court.
The court papers indicate that Mr Mitchell and Mr Cavenagh incorporated the company to acquire the property with the two of them as equal shareholders.
