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Sunday, Mar 12, 2017
Dubai: A business dispute over assets worth Dh7 billion ($1.9 billion) and involving senior Emirati businesspersons that had dragged on for five years was recently resolved by the Expertise and Disputes Settlement Department of the Dubai Ruler’s Court.
The commercial case was lodged by two parties of prominent businessmen following the dispute over the ownership of a group of companies and the share each party was entitled to.
The department’s three-member committee of financial experts examined the company’s financial position and analysed its financial statements, including earnings and cash flow statements.
The experts conducted a comprehensive financial assessment of the company, its assets, liabilities and financial obligations, as well as cash flow, profits and debts through the pendency of the case.
The dispute also involved financial matters in London besides Dubai and the experts had to travel to the British capital to examine the issue of the company’s listing of its shares on the London Stock Exchange. This followed a request by one of the plaintiffs who complained against his other partners claiming they had not given him his fair share in the company after it was listed.
In London, the expert panel’s mission proved to be tough given that it is difficult to obtain copies of financial documents from financial institutions in other countries. However, the expert team managed to peruse all documents related to the case thanks to the good relations between the UAE and the UK as well as the cooperation of the London Stock Exchange.
The panel also evaluated the company’s performance and its strategy as evidenced by the decisions of its board of directors. It assessed the company’s risk factors and its profitability by analysing financial statements and reformulating reported financial statements.
The company’s annual and periodic financial reports and audit reports were scrutinised carefully by the experts for the credit risk assessment. The department’s experts conducted financial ratio analysis based on the reformulated financial statements, besides an analysis of cash flow statements and the working capital ratio.
The experts found that the sharp shortage in cash was due to huge expenses incurred by subsidiaries owned by the two key partners and on account of the expansion in real estate investments.
The panel also found that many loans and facilities had been obtained in the company’s name that added up to more than half of the company’s assets.
During the period of litigation, the experts visited the main offices of the group of companies in the UAE. They also visited banks and institutions with which the company had made transactions.
The department, which was established in 2014, comprises 12 experts selected based on their academic qualifications, personal and psychological attributes, as well as their varied experiences in legal affairs.
The case is not the only dispute resolved by the department. In another success, it resolved a case that had stretched on for 20 years and involved over Dh4 billion.
The department is responsible for studying and giving technical assessments in cases referred by courts seeking the department’s inputs, and also complaints referred to it by the Public Prosecution and Rental Dispute Settlement Committee as well as cases referred to it by the Director-General of the Ruler’s Court with directives to settle disputes amicably.
Staff Report Gulf News 2017. All rights reserved.
Dubai: A business dispute over assets worth Dh7 billion ($1.9 billion) and involving senior Emirati businesspersons that had dragged on for five years was recently resolved by the Expertise and Disputes Settlement Department of the Dubai Ruler’s Court.
The commercial case was lodged by two parties of prominent businessmen following the dispute over the ownership of a group of companies and the share each party was entitled to.
The department’s three-member committee of financial experts examined the company’s financial position and analysed its financial statements, including earnings and cash flow statements.
The experts conducted a comprehensive financial assessment of the company, its assets, liabilities and financial obligations, as well as cash flow, profits and debts through the pendency of the case.
The dispute also involved financial matters in London besides Dubai and the experts had to travel to the British capital to examine the issue of the company’s listing of its shares on the London Stock Exchange. This followed a request by one of the plaintiffs who complained against his other partners claiming they had not given him his fair share in the company after it was listed.
In London, the expert panel’s mission proved to be tough given that it is difficult to obtain copies of financial documents from financial institutions in other countries. However, the expert team managed to peruse all documents related to the case thanks to the good relations between the UAE and the UK as well as the cooperation of the London Stock Exchange.
The panel also evaluated the company’s performance and its strategy as evidenced by the decisions of its board of directors. It assessed the company’s risk factors and its profitability by analysing financial statements and reformulating reported financial statements.
The company’s annual and periodic financial reports and audit reports were scrutinised carefully by the experts for the credit risk assessment. The department’s experts conducted financial ratio analysis based on the reformulated financial statements, besides an analysis of cash flow statements and the working capital ratio.
The experts found that the sharp shortage in cash was due to huge expenses incurred by subsidiaries owned by the two key partners and on account of the expansion in real estate investments.
The panel also found that many loans and facilities had been obtained in the company’s name that added up to more than half of the company’s assets.
During the period of litigation, the experts visited the main offices of the group of companies in the UAE. They also visited banks and institutions with which the company had made transactions.
The department, which was established in 2014, comprises 12 experts selected based on their academic qualifications, personal and psychological attributes, as well as their varied experiences in legal affairs.
The case is not the only dispute resolved by the department. In another success, it resolved a case that had stretched on for 20 years and involved over Dh4 billion.
The department is responsible for studying and giving technical assessments in cases referred by courts seeking the department’s inputs, and also complaints referred to it by the Public Prosecution and Rental Dispute Settlement Committee as well as cases referred to it by the Director-General of the Ruler’s Court with directives to settle disputes amicably.
Staff Report Gulf News 2017. All rights reserved.
