Expertise
Company and shareholder disputes
Strategic advice and advocacy in disputes about control, ownership, governance and fiduciary responsibility.
Experience and approach
Alexander regularly advises shareholders, directors and investors in joint-venture and closely held company disputes. His work includes unfair-prejudice petitions, derivative claims, just-and-equitable winding up, disputed share transfers and valuation provisions, and claims concerning directors' fiduciary duties. He is accustomed to long, document-heavy cases in which the commercial objective, control of the business and the litigation strategy must be considered together.
Issues that may require specialist counsel
When this expertise may be relevant.
- A company is deadlocked or its owners can no longer work together
- A shareholder alleges exclusion, dilution or unfairly prejudicial conduct
- The ownership, control or value of shares is disputed
- Directors are accused of breaching fiduciary duties or diverting assets
Selected work
- 01Unfair prejudice petitions
- 02Shareholder and joint venture disputes
- 03Directors' and fiduciary duties
- 04Derivative claims
- 05Corporate governance
- 06Partnership and LLP disputes
Representative matters
Selected experience in company and shareholder disputes.
Syspal Capital Ltd v Truman
[2025] EWCA Civ 469; [2024] EWHC 1561 (Ch)
Sole counsel for Mr Truman, instructed by Fieldfisher LLP
Judges: High Court: Mr Justice Roth; Court of Appeal: Lady Justice Asplin, Lord Justice Birss and Lord Justice Zacaroli
Alexander represented Mr Truman as sole counsel in High Court and Court of Appeal proceedings concerning compulsory share-transfer and valuation provisions operating across the company's articles, shareholder arrangements and employment documentation. Roth J accepted the construction advanced for Mr Truman, and the Court of Appeal dismissed the company's appeal. The decisions demonstrate experience of shareholder agreements, commercially significant valuation provisions, contractual interpretation and appellate advocacy.
Read the case and Alexander's role →Brown v Bowthorpe Group and others
High Court unfair-prejudice proceedings
Sole counsel for the respondents, instructed by Geldards
Alexander acted as sole counsel for the respondents to a substantial section 994 petition involving alleged breaches of directors' duties, derivative-action issues and connected company, shareholder and insolvency questions. The proceedings were listed for a ten-day High Court trial in Leeds. The petition was withdrawn on the third day and a significant costs order was made in the respondents' favour, demonstrating trial advocacy and strategic handling of substantial unfair-prejudice proceedings.
Read the matter summary →Malben Ltd v McCarthy
CR-2021-002375
Leading junior for the petitioner, instructed by Acuity Law
Alexander acted as leading junior for the petitioner in a section 994 unfair-prejudice petition concerning a holding company with an industrial estate and other commercial property valued at more than £30 million. The proceedings involved company control, shareholder rights, valuation and a potential buyout. The dispute was prepared for a twenty-day trial and resolved following disclosure without publication of the settlement terms.
Read the matter summary →QVT Fund V LP v China Zenix Auto International Group Ltd
BVIHC (COM) 0026 of 2014 (24 January 2017)
Counsel with Tim de Swardt for the second to fourth defendants
Judge: Commercial Court Judge (the published judgment does not identify the judicial author by name)
Alexander acted for a leading Chinese industrialist in BVI unfair-prejudice proceedings brought by an American hedge fund concerning China Zenix Auto International Group and claims exceeding £50 million. The litigation involved company control, minority-shareholder rights, investment-fund interests and the governance of a substantial international industrial business, demonstrating experience of offshore company litigation and multinational legal-team coordination.
Read the case and Alexander's role →Cornerstone practical guide
Shareholder disputes and unfair-prejudice petitions.
A structured guide to early strategy, evidence, interim protection, competing remedies, privilege, valuation, limitation and settlement—connected to current authority and representative experience.
Read the practical guideConnected specialist capability
Cryptoassets and digital-asset disputes.
Alexander's related experience includes substantial cross-border insolvency work arising from the collapse of Three Arrows Capital.
Explore digital-asset disputesRelated legal research
Authority in company, shareholder and fiduciary disputes.
Decisions on shareholder remedies, corporate governance, fiduciary obligations and the interpretation of company arrangements.