Boardroom squabble in Alliance Select Foods

Screengrab from allianceselectfoods.com

MANILA, Philippines—A squabble has erupted in the boardroom of seafood supplier Alliance Select Foods International Inc., with a group of Singapore-based shareholders taking four top company officials and directors to court for allegedly preventing them from scrutinizing the company’s books.

The management of Alliance, on the other hand, sees the complaint as “premature,” noting that its board of directors was still deliberating on the notice of inspection filed by the complaining foreign shareholders.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, Alliance said it had received complaint-affidavits filed at the Office of the City Prosecutor in Pasig City by stockholders Harvest All Investment Ltd., Victory Fund Ltd. and Bondeast Private Ltd., a foreign shareholder group that controls about 34 percent of the company.

These shareholders accused four out of seven incumbent Alliance directors—George Sycip, Jonathan Dee, Alvin Dee and Ibarra Malonzo— of  “violating their rights to inspect the books of the corporation.”

Sycip is the company chair and an independent director while Jonathan Dee is the president and chief executive officer. Malonzo is a representative of the state-controlled pension fund Social Security System, another institutional investor in Alliance.

“The company shall engage the services of counsel to assist the aforementioned directors on this matter,” the disclosure said.