STREETWIRE Pacific Stratus promoters face $451,000 share put suit
2002-09-10 08:57 PT - Street Wire
by Brent Mudry
Pacific Stratus Ventures president Harry Chew and director David (Tiger) Williams face a $451,000 suit from the company's biggest shareholder over an unfulfilled put agreement. In a statement of claim filed Friday in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Arapahoe Holdings Inc. claims Mr. Chew and Mr. Williams failed to buy its three-million-share control block at 15 cents a share.
The allegations in the suit, filed by Vancouver lawyer David Fredricksen of Fredricksen McAlister, have not yet been proven in court and no statements of defence have yet been filed by Mr. Chew or Mr. Williams. Both were in a meeting Monday afternoon and unavailable for immediate comment. Pacific Stratus is not a party to the suit.
Shares of Pacific Stratus, which peaked at 29 cents in April, closed Monday at five cents on the TSX Venture Exchange. At current prices, the three-million-share block is now worth $150,000.
The suit claims that in a stock option agreement dated Dec. 4, 2001, Mr. Chew and Mr. Williams granted Arapahoe an irrevocable right and option to require them to purchase its full block of three million shares, a 17.36-per-cent stake in the company. The put, with an exercise price of 15 cents a share, had a total value of $450,900 and an exercise deadline of May 3, later extended to May 31 and then July 31.
Arapahoe claims it served Mr. Chew and Mr. Williams an exercise demand on July 25, for a total of $450,900 plus interest at 9 per cent, starting on May 3. The suit claims the Pacific Stratus pair refused or neglected to fulfill the demand, and seeks full judgment.
Lawyer Mr. Fredricksen declined to comment on who is behind his client Arapahoe, but describes it as a private B.C. company not otherwise significantly involved in the stock market. |
