Lush embroiled in legal battle with former boss over £216.8m share sale
Cosmetics brand Lush has found itself embroiled in a legal dispute with a business set up by its former chief executive, Andrew Gerrie, over its stake in the firm.
Silverwood Brands, which lists Gerrie as a director, announced in December that it had acquired a 19.8 per cent stake in Lush at a cost of around £216.8m.
But the London-based investment firm has now said that Lush is declining to record the transfer of that stake to its subsidiary, Cosmic Circles. Silverwood said Lush has failed to give a reason.
“As a purported arbiter of fairness, ethics and champion of environmental, social and governance issues, the company is surprised that Lush is behaving in this manner and expects that ultimately it will stand by their ethos and avoid potentially prejudicing minority interests,” Silverwood said in a statement.
However, in response to the claims, Lush, which has over 100 stores in the UK, said that its board had “no choice” but to refuse the transfer.
Lush argued that the company’s regulations contain “specific criteria” that must be met when a shareholder sells their shares.
“Under UK law, the board of directors has a clear duty to ensure that all of these regulations are complied with at all times.” it said.
Lush decided that “the proposed sale of shares by Andrew Gerrie… to another company was not compliant with these regulations.”
Andrew Gerrie first joined Lush as an investor and later became head of the beauty brand, but left in 2015 after 20 years at the helm.