Problematic Issues of Exercising and Protecting the Shareholder’s Right to Mandatory Redemption of Shares by a Stock Company in Ukraine

DOI: 10.46340/eppd.2023.10.6.3

Uliana Yarymovych, PhD in Law
Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine

How to cite: Yarymovych, U. (2023). Problematic Issues of Exercising and Protecting the Shareholder’s Right to Mandatory Redemption of Shares by a Stock Company in Ukraine. European Political and Law Discourse, 10, 6, 22-28. DOI: 10.46340/eppd.2023.10.6.3

Abstract

After acquiring the status of a candidate for membership of the European Union Ukraine is working strenuously to harmonize its domestic law with the law of the EU. Special attention is paid to the legislation on stock companies since European investors can be interested in participating in the share capital on the territory of Ukraine. In exchange for investments, investors-shareholders acquire corporate rights, and the legislation of Ukraine should be aimed at their due protection. The study analyzes the peculiarities of realization and protection of one of the shareholder’s corporate rights in Ukraine – the right to mandatory redemption of shares by a stock company. The grounds and the procedure for exercising this right, and the specifics of its protection in case of violation, are provided. It is argued that an appeal to the company with a demand for mandatory redemption of shares by it and refusal to fulfill this obligation by the company is the basis for the shareholder to appeal the decision of the general meeting which became the ground for such right to court. At the same time, if the decision on the same issues violates the corporate rights or interests of the shareholder, then the right to sue to court for its appeal is unconditional and does not require a prior appeal to the company with a demand for mandatory redemption of shares. Analysis of the current Law of Ukraine “On Stock Companies”, adopted on July 27, 2022, allowed us to conclude that today, such an approach is not fixed in the legislation of Ukraine. Moreover, the procedure for protecting the shareholder’s corporate rights by appealing the decision of the general meeting is too complicated. The new Law is mostly aimed at adapting the stock legislation to wartime conditions while leaving some legal problems unresolved. Therefore, in this study, there are proposed relevant amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Stock Companies”.

Keywords: stock company, protection of shareholder’s corporate rights, mandatory share redemption, contract conclusion, appeal of the general meeting’s decision, legislative amendments.

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