SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Embattled Spanish gambling operator Grupo Codere has been issued a lawsuit by ‘former Codere shareholders’ regarding its April share capital disbursement which saw the controlling Martinez Sampedro family reduce its corporate equity to 2%.
The share dilution which aimed to raise + €450 million in capital in order to ease the company’s + €1 billion debt with existing creditors is being challenged by lawyers representing a group of former investors on the grounds that Codere governance had breached ‘conflict of interest’ safeguards.
Plaintiff representatives claim that the capital disbursement actioned by a corporate special committee had favoured the Martinez Sampedro family to the determent of other shareholders.
Furthermore, during Codere’s restructuring review the special committee chose to pay no attention to any minority investor concerns as only Martinez Sampedro associates had been invited to the meetings.
Codere executives are further accused of not fulfilling their corporate governance responsibilities towards its investors when considering its refinancing options.
Representatives of Codere and the Martinez Sampedro family detailed to Spanish media, that they had received the lawsuit but would not comment on the matter.
