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Hong Kong logistics tycoon John Lau Shek Yau has turned to the court to retrieve his $45.5m investment in EV Cornerstone’s EmergeVest Logistics Fund (ELF).
Mr Lau filed the writ against EV and its managing director Heath Zarin with the High Court of Hong Kong on 19 June, four months after announcing his planned divestment from EV Cargo.
“It does not make any commercial sense for me to continue with our investment in EV Cargo, whose strategy is to compete with our business in China,” said Mr Lau.
“I was the anchor investor in EmergeVest in 2013. My investment played a critical role in the creation of EmergeVest and subsequently EV Cargo, which operates in the industry that I have had a career in for the past 30 years.”
A statement provided by Mr Lau claimed legal action was the culmination of a “deteriorating relationship” between him and Mr Zarin.
A copy of the writ, seen by The Loadstar, includes the claim Mr Lau “detrimentally relied” on an agreement that he would be granted full rights and interests equivalent to those of the partners in the ELF, including that his investment would be redeemable on demand.
The writ asserts that the defendants “are in breach of trust… by failing to transfer and/or procure the transfer of the legal title in the plaintiff’s interest… upon request.”
In the statement provide to media, Mr Lau added: “I am prepared to pursue this legal path until my rights are vindicated. As the Chinese saying goes ‘when you drink the water, remember the spring as the source of the water’.”
While the legal wrangle may predominate discussion as far as Mr Lau’s logistics interests are concerned, the amounts being discussed pale in comparison to his announcement in March.
His planned divestiture from EV forms part of a much broader reaching realignment of his business interests, after claiming he was eyeing the sale of more than $1bn in logistics assets, including his majority stake in CN Logistics International and Cargo Services Far East.
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