La Jornada: Sahuayo grocery firm wins litigation for share control

A civil court in Mexico City ruled against a company, whose shareholders include José Antonio Cañedo White and Gonzalo Gil, that demanded control of part of the shares of Impulsora Sahuayo, one of the main wholesale grocery distributors in the country.

The group of shareholders of Impulsora Sahuayo, headed by the Villaseñor Costa family, is in litigation with the companies CXP Logística Bosques and Logística Bosques over a controversy over the participation in the capital of the grocery distribution firm.

As part of the litigation, the family that owns Sahuayo – a Corvi Group company – defends that resources provided by Logística Bosques were not an investment in exchange for shares of the grocery distribution firm, but rather a loan.

Civil Judge 52 declared null the shareholder subscription agreement, through which both Bosques companies would acquire 81.5 percent of the shares of Impulsora Sahuayo for 910 million pesos.

In their lawsuit, the Villaseñor family maintained that the investors failed to fulfill their commitment to contribute all of the agreed resources and that the shareholder subscription agreement simulated an investment when in reality it concealed a credit, in addition to including various agreements contrary to the law.

He also stated that, during the execution of the agreement, the investors acted as creditors and not as partners.

In their argument, the shareholders of Logística Bosques argued that they paid that amount of money and that the shares belong to them. However, the court ruling ruled in favor of the Villaseñor family and concluded that the operation did not constitute an investment to become partners, but rather a credit granted to the Villaseñors.

The ruling also indicates that Logística Bosques did not prove that it had delivered the 910 million pesos to the Villaseñor family, regardless of the name or legal nature intended to be given to the operation with the grocery company.