The year-long dispute among major shareholders of tuna exporter Alliance Food Select Inc. may finally come to an end, with a group of Singaporean investors now considering the possibility of selling shares to the Dee family and another major investor, Strongoak Inc..
Sources said the parties were now looking at hiring a third-party group that would make an independent valuation on the shares.
The planned buyout of Singaporeans’ stake in the company, which has been reduced from 34 percent to 24 percent following last year’s issuance of shares to Strongoak and would likely go down further with the planned stock rights offering, is seen as the only solution to finally end the squabble, which had not only affected the stock’s share price but the business operations as well.
The only question remaining is at what price the Singaporean investors were willing to sell their shares in the company? Of course, they would want to at least recover their investment in Alliance Select, but that would not likely happen, given the performance of the stock over the past few years.
With the hiring of the third-party company that will conduct valuation, both parties should adhere to the result of the valuation. This means that the Singaporean investors will agree to sell their shares in the company based on the valuation and the Dee family and Strongoak will agree to buy the Singaporean stake based on the same price.
This solution will hopefully make everyone happy.