Background

With the reduction of his involvement in the business, the majority owner of a security guard company in Manhattan began negotiations with the minority owner for a buyout. The discussions continued for months with no agreement. The demand on the table was $1,200,000.00.

The Challenge

We were retained by the minority owner to assist in the conclusion of negotiations. However, after a number of meetings it became clear that the majority owner had overvalued his interest and overplayed his hand. We identified critical facts; the minority owner controlled most of the remaining business and there was no effective agreement which would prevent him from going out on his own.

The Solution

We advised the minority owner that the negotiations as they existed had to be abandoned and organized his thinking toward a new company. Once the majority owner got wind of our plans he admitted that his leverage had disappeared and agreed to transfer contracts, personnel and offices to the new company.

The Result

Our client essentially got the business for a minimal amount. When the majority owner later brought suit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, we defeated his claims and recovered $50,000.00 on counterclaims.