The hearing is now under way
An appeal to overturn a court ruling which enables Slea Pty Limited to buy majority shares in broker aggregator Connective is now under way.
The appeal commenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Monday morning. It involves separate appeals lodged by Millsave Holdings Pty Ltd & Ors, for which Slea Pty Ltd and Connective are among the respondents.
The key parties involved in the case are Glenn Lees, Connective CEO and executive director (Millsave Pty Ltd), Mark Haron (executive director Connective Services Pty Ltd and OSN) and Graham Maloney, independent non-executive director and chairman, appointed as director and chairman of the boards in Connective companies in 2011.
It follows a 14-year conflict between Slea Pty Limited (‘Slea’), of which Sofianos Tsialtas is key principal, and Connective Services Pty Ltd (‘Connective’), resulting in a 453-page judgment handed down by Justice Ross Robson in the Supreme Court of Victoria on March 28, 2022.
The dispute centres on events occurring during and after Tsialtas’ alleged forced resignation as director of the Connective companies in May 2008.
Tsialtas, together with Glen Lees and Murray Lees, founded Connective, in 2003.
In March 2022, the Supreme Court of Victoria court ruled that Slea, a founder and one-third minority shareholder of Connective, was entitled to purchase majority shares in the company.
In his judgment, Justice Robson stated that in 2011, as a result of a restructure of the Connective business, the business was transferred from Connective Services and OSN, to a number of subsidiaries known as the Connective Group (‘Group’), without Slea’s knowledge or consent.
Tsialtas is now national sales manager at Liberty. The court decision raised the possibility that if Slea were to acquire the majority shares, the interest would be on-sold to Liberty.
Connective shareholders confirmed in June 2022 that they would appeal the court’s ruling.
In a statement to MPA regarding the appeal, provided on Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for Connective said it was a matter between shareholders, not the Connective business directly.
“It has had no impact on the operations or continued success of Connective or our brokers. As it is before the court, we have no further comment,” the spokesperson said.
