13th Feb 2020 11:35
(Alliance News) - Clear Leisure PLC said Thursday that Turin Court confirmed its ruling, given in February 2016, that the company to be approved as Sipiem SPA controlling shareholder.
Clear Leisure shares were trading 9.5% higher in London at 0.23 pence each on Thursday.
The Italy-focused leisure, real estate and cryptocurrency investor said that in March 2016, Turin Court assigned to Clear Leisure a controlling interest of 50.17% in Sipiem.
Under Italian law, the ruling was a 'fast-track' ruling, the company said, obtained to prevent potential damage to Sipiem by the minority shareholder who had tried, illegally, to take control of the company.
On Monday, much earlier than expected, the Turin Court confirmed its previous ruling "that Clear Leisure be approved as Sipiem's controlling shareholder, as it was before July 2015 and that Sipiem's minority shareholder had, in 2015, illegally tried to remove control of the company from Clear Leisure."
The company said this ruling by Turin Court is "extremely important", as it confirms illegal behavior of Sipiem directors.
The original 'fast-track' ruling had allowed Clear Leisure to bring a claim against the former directors and members of the internal audit committee of Sipiem, which is being heard in the Venice Court.
On Monday, the company had said that Venice court set deadlines for submission of further documents and set the second hearing on May 6.
Francesco Gardin, chief executive officer and executive chair of Clear Leisure said: "We will now increase the legal pressure against the defendant of the case with a number of options which have already been identified by our legal team."
"Moreover, this new judgement, which we believe increases the chance of a positive outcome to our claim, could make the case potentially more attractive to specialized legal claims buyers, should Clear Leisure 2017 Ltd consider this route," Gardin said.
The company purchased the legal action through its subsidiary Clear Leisure 2017 Ltd in September last year. The legal claim was in relation to Sipiem's liquidator accusing the company's previous executive team and audit committee of fraud and mismanagement.
Clear Leisure 2017 paid Sipiem EUR50,000 to acquire the legal action and will pay all legal costs. It will also receive 70% of any money recovered should the ruling go in favour of Clear Leisure 2017.
By Loreta Juodagalvyte; [email protected]
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