The latest move, by about 750 disgruntled shareholders, follows an April 2001 out-of-court settlement by Shell New Zealand (which last year bought FCE) with listed retirement care provider ElderCare over its disputed preference shares in the former FCE subsidiary.
The minority shareholders are seeking about $NZ23 million in compensation for FCE allegedly withholding price-sensitive information during its takeover of Southern Petroleum.
However, Shell New Zealand spokesperson Simon King has said Shell strongly believed the case would ultimately be dismissed, though it was reviewing its appeal options.
The shareholders claim they would have received more money per share had FCE not withheld information about the size of Southern Petroleum's Taranaki oil and gas portfolio, including a stake in the licence which later yielded the 1tcf-plus Pohokura gas discovery. Their claim represents the difference between the two sums, including penalties and interest.
Minority shareholder spokesperson Tony Gavigan said the decision opened the way for another 6200 minority shareholders to file similar claims, but he warned that Shell could appeal the decision to give shareholders leave to proceed with their claim and have access to company records.
The former Southern Petroleum project manager said lawyers would now seek to establish exactly what happened in the months before minority shareholders sold their stakes in November 1995.
Justice Robert Fisher, in his judgment, said the application from the minority shareholders did not mean an establishing of any facts. The question was whether the applicants' case was arguable under the Securities Amendment Act.
Justice Fisher also said the statement of claim against FCE subsidiary Petrocorp Exploration and former FCE director James Patek was not without difficulty.
Eldercare said in April last year that FCE would pay it $1.3 million relating to over 4000 disputed preference shares in Southern Petroleum Services. This was in addition to $275,000 FCE had paid after ElderCare dropped its claim alleging insider trading.
New Zealand Petroleum originally held shares in Southern Petroleum, but a few years ago became a shelf company for the listing of ElderCare.
Gavigan said at that time the $275,000 paid to ElderCare equated to NZ69c per share. The minority shareholders believed they were entitled to a final figure over $NZ3.00 per share. However, they had decided to seek a settlement of $NZ2 per share, or about $23 million, after looking at documentation valuing assets that came out during the sale of FCE to Shell.
