Finsbury Investments Given Majority Shareholding Of Portland Cement By Court Of Appeal

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is a noted businessman, philanthropist and charity worker in Zambia. For the past ten years, he had been fighting for the legal takeover of the ZPC. The final judgement on the case was recently announced. However, Dr. Rajan Mahtani had to approach another court to receive justice. The case was originally registered at the Lusaka High Court. The judge at the Lusaka High Court, who announced the final judgement during the month of May, 2018 was justice Nkonde. Despite sharing evidences and testimonials, Justice Nkonde from the Lusaka High Court announced that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. To counter this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the Court of Appeal.

 

The Court of Appeal announced its final judgement on 31st January 2019. As per this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement company as his company; Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent shares at the factory. On the other hand, Ventriglias are only minority shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement as their company, Ital Terrazzo Limited, holds just 42 percent shares at the factory. This shareholding pattern announced by the Court of Appeal judge aligns with the original shareholders agreement. Based on this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani becomes the legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory. 

Furthermore, the judge at the Court of Appeal also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders as this decision was biased and misdirected. A timeline of three months from the date of the judgement has been provided during which all share sales related activities must be completed.