BDT Investment petitions for judicial convocation of Villamorey's extraordinary shareholders' meeting after exhausting extrajudicial remedies
May 19 2025
BDT Investments Inc.
BDT Investment, Inc., holder of 33.33% of the shares of Villamorey, S.A., petitions the court for judicial convocation of an extraordinary shareholders' meeting, following the systematic refusal of the company's directors, legal representatives, and resident agents to convene and notify BDT of shareholders' meetings held since the share assignment took full legal effect. The assignment was judicially recognized through Order No. 898 of April 12, 2022, issued by the Twelfth Circuit Civil Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, which approved the transaction between Lisa, S.A. and BDT transferring the shareholding.
BDT sent a request for convocation of an extraordinary shareholders' meeting via certified mail to Villamorey's resident agents, the law firm Galindo, Arias & Lopez, on December 11, 2024. The same request was directed to the company's legal representative. After the statutory 30-business-day period expired without any response, BDT turned to the courts. The petition details that Villamorey has failed to convene and notify BDT of shareholders' meetings despite acknowledging BDT's shareholder status in multiple judicial filings.
The petition grounds its claim in the right to information, accountability, and participation in corporate governance. It cites Article 96 of Panama's Commercial Code, which requires presentation of accounts to any interested party who requests them, and Article 99, which mandates resolution of all issues arising from such accounting. BDT notes that neither Lisa, S.A. nor its assignee has received any accounting of the decisions taken by Villamorey's governing bodies or the distribution of dividends. The filing also invokes Article 71 of the Commercial Code, requiring corporations to maintain records of minutes and shares, and Article 86, guaranteeing shareholders' access to assembly minutes.
"es obligatorio para todo comerciante la presentación de cuentas cuando los solicite el interesado. Estas han de ser conforme los asientos de los libros de quien las rinde y debidamente probadas" (Page 4)
This petition was filed on May 19, 2025, alongside the complaint seeking share issuance and registration, forming a dual-track procedural strategy within Case File No. 78084-25: on one track, the demand to formalize share ownership through certificate issuance; on the other, immediate access to corporate governance through compulsory convocation of a shareholders' meeting. The amount in controversy is set at $60,000,000.00.