Meat on Appeal Court menu

By PAULA OLIVER

Five Court of Appeal judges will today hear arguments in what could be the final instalment of the long-running battle between meat companies Richmond and PPCS.

In what is expected to be a four-day hearing, PPCS is appealing against a High Court ruling that it breached the Securities Amendment Act when it built up a shareholding in Richmond in the late 1990s.

PPCS received a penalty that included an order to forfeit shares in Richmond and a loss of voting rights on other shares.

Justice William Young found that PPCS had committed gross commercial misconduct, had told a series of untruths, and then had hidden behind them as it sought control of its competitor Richmond.

The battle between the two companies has become more bitter the longer it has gone on.

After the ruling, which came out in November last year, PPCS attempted a takeover of Richmond but was thwarted by staunch resistance from a hard-core group of shareholders who refused to sell.

This week's hearing will include argument from a group of Richmond shareholders known as the Bell group, who were instrumental in taking the original case against PPCS to court.

The Bell group is understood to be pursuing a cross-appeal that will argue that PPCS should be forced to divest all of its shareholding in Richmond.

Alan Galbraith, QC, will appear for PPCS, Bill Wilson, QC, for Richmond, and Robert Dobson, QC, for the Bell group.