Trident Austwide Pty Ltd v Bagcorp Pty Ltd as trustee for the Rico Tea Trust [2024] NSWSC 479

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Trident Austwide Pty Ltd v Bagcorp Pty Ltd as trustee for the Rico Tea Trust [2024] NSWSC 479 Hearing dates: 8-9 April 2024 Date of orders: 30 April 2024 Decision date: 30 April 2024 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Hmelnitsky J Decision: Parties to bring in short minutes of order in accordance with these reasons on or before 14 May 2024. Catchwords: PARTNERSHIPS AND JOINT VENTURES — Relationship of partners to persons dealing with them — Liabilities of partner — Retirement — where partnership agreement contains clauses allowing for continuing partners to purchase share of retiring partner or require the share be offered for sale — where option to purchase or require sale not exercised — whether retiring partner entitled to be paid its partnership share of the enterprise value of partnership or whether any such payment should be discounted for lack of marketability and lack of control — whether resultant payment should be treated as a debt or the subject of a Syers order Legislation Cited: Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) s 233 Partnership Act 1892 (NSW) ss 42-43 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) rr 20.14, 20.24 Cases Cited: Byrne v AJ Byrne Pty Ltd [2012] NSWSC 667 Chia v Ireland [2000] SASC 47 Chocolate Factory Apartments v Westpoint Finance & Ors [2005] NSWSC 784 Commissioner of State Taxation (SA) v Cyril Henschke Pty Ltd (2010) 242 CLR 508; [2010] HCA 43 CVC/Opportunity Equity Partners Ltd v Demarco Almeida [2002] UKPC 16; [2002] 2 BCLC 108 Dynasty Pty Ltd v Coombs (1995) 59 FCR 122 Fazio v Fazio [2012] WASCA 72 Gilmore Finance Pty Ltd v Aesthete Pty Ltd (No 2) [2023] NSWCA 31 Hamer v Giles (1879) 11 ChD 942 HP Mercantile Pty Ltd v Hartnett [2017] NSWCA 79 O'Neill v Phillips [1999] 1 WLR 1092 Re Bird Precision Bellows Ltd [1984] Ch 419 at 430 Sobell v Boston [1975] 2 All ER 282 Statham v Shephard (No 2) (1974) 23 FLR 244 Syers v Syers (1876) 1 App Cas 174 Tomanovic v Argyle HQ Pty Ltd [2010] NSWSC 152 Truong v Lam [2009] WASCA 217 Texts Cited: G E Dal Pont, Law of Costs (4th ed, 2018, LexisNexis Australia) Mark Blackett-Ord and Sarah Haren, Partnership Law (6th ed, 2020, Bloomsbury Professional) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Trident Austwide Pty Ltd (Plaintiff) Bagcorp Pty Ltd as trustee for The Rico Tea Trust (First Defendant) Headcrest Pty Ltd as trustee for The Davey Family Trust (Second Defendant) Broadbond Pty Ltd (Third Defendant) Representation: Counsel: RD Marshall SC / AD Justice (Plaintiff) N Mirzai (First Defendant) M Cobb-Clark (Second Defendant) N Loemker (as director with leave) (Third Defendant)