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Fri 04 Apr 2003Casting rights of shareholders aside
What is highway robbery? In the 19th century - well before my time - a guy, disguised in a mask, demanded your money, your life, or your bald-headed wife, or else! Now it has the cloak of legality.
If an aggressive management shareholder has, say a 45 per cent stake, then buys, or gets support from associates with 35 per cent, he/she can dispossess the ownership rights of the other 20 per cent. Where is the equity in that? Those archaic legal rules could partly change under new EU draft proposals, but not in time to curb any current Irish deals.
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