How we resolved
a “classic” deadlock among shareholders
Jan Plecháček,
founder and CEO of
CAN Superconductors
I got to know Honza and Václav on the recommendation of Jirka Hlaváč, partner at TPA Group. This was at a time when we faced the serious prospect of CAN going out of business after more than twenty years, not for commercial reasons but because of the shareholders’ inability to find consensus. Honza and Václav very carefully appraised the situation and came up with a novel solution which led to an agreement between the shareholders on the sale of one of their shares. Thanks to their intervention, I have since been able to take the firm to new heights.
Honza a Václav
The key aspect of this case was that Jan Plecháček served as the managing director of CAN Superconductors s.r.o. (www.can-superconductors.com) at the time, and that that company’s line of business largely depended on his professional expertise and reputation, and on the expertise and good names of Tomáš Hlásek, Mr. Plecháček senior, and a number of co-workers standing by the side of Jan. Following a series of carefully designed corporate-law measures, the dissenting shareholder had no choice but to keep the negotiations strictly limited to the sale of their share and, following the settlement with Jan, to exit the company.