Legal action over Peard agreement 'breach'

A private company has launched legal action against Peard Real Estate Group founder Peter Peard and PG Employee Holdings over an alleged shareholder agreement breach it claims cost it almost $1 million.

According to a writ filed with the Supreme Court last week, SR International Agencies claims it entered into an agreement with Mr Peard to facilitate a restructure of a number of companies he held an interest in, including Westman Nominees and Peard Group Investments.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission records show SR International Agencies is owned by Sharon Gray Hamilton, of Hillarys.

In its writ, SR claims it held 340 shares in Westman Nominees and 10,790 shares in Peard Group Investments in mid-2016.

Under the agreement, Mr Peard was to purchase the 340 Westman Nominees shares from SR, as well as its shares in Peard Group Investments.

Their agreement allegedly stipulated that the share capital of Westman and Peard Group Investments would be restructured and, as a result, SR would hold 986,000 shares in Westman, as well as 145,633 shares in Peard Group Investments.

It also stated that SR would transfer all those shares to his private company Peard Group, which would then be issued to PG Employee Holdings (PGEH).

PGEH would hold 1,129,625 of its shares in Peard Group pursuant to a bare trust in favour of SR.

The agreement allegedly stated that Mr Peard would purchase all of the shares SR held in Westman and Peard Group Investments for $1.12 million, with the purchase to be settled no longer than one year after the restructure had been completed.

On May 15, 2018, SR claims it received a payment of $200,000 representing an advance in anticipation of Mr Peard settling his purchase of shares PGEH held in Peard Group.

In November 2018, Mr Peard allegedly settled the purchase of 139,572 shares which PGEH held in Peard Group for $139,572.

But SR claims in its writ that Mr Peard breached the agreement by failing to settle the purchase of the remaining shares SR held in Westman and Peard Group Investments.

SR argued that Mr Peard was still obliged to settle his purchase of the remaining 990,053 shares PGEH held in Peard Group and, as a result, should have paid SR $990,053 after the settlement of the share purchase.

SR is now seeking a court order that would force that transaction to proceed or damages to be paid for the company’s alleged breach of the agreement, as well as court costs.

Peard Real Estate could not comment on the case but it's understood the parties are working to resolve the issue.

In correspondence sent to clients last night and obtained by Business News, Mr Peard said the internal dispute between the shareholder, SR International, and the board would not have any bearing on the day-to-day operations of the business.