LASCO Group will not be affected by a court ruling which awarded the ex-wife of Lasco chairman Lascelles Chin half the net asset value of a subsidiary company.

The disclosure was made by Gary Peart, CEO of lead broker Mayberry, as he sought to quell any potential investor concern before Lasco Group makes an initial public offering (IPO) on September 15.

According to Peart, the court case only involved Lasco Foods and that company will not be listed. Furthermore, as stated in the prospectus, he said it was a private dispute about the ownership of the shares in that particular company and does not impact upon the assets of the company itself.

"In the process of amalgamating, the business of Lasco Foods is absorbed into what is now called Lasco Manufacturing so at the end of the day, the lawsuit between the chairman and his former wife is really between shareholders, and she was only a major shareholder in that company," noted Peart.

"So, Lasco as a company — ie manufacturing, distribution etc — going forward will not be impacted by the outcome of that particular case," he said.

The London-based Privy Council in 2007 ruled that Audrey Chin, ex-wife of Lascelles Chin, was entitled to half his multi-million-dollar local food company Lasco Foods Limited, bringing an end to their much publicised divorce battle.

The law lords sided with the Court of Appeal, which in May 1999 ordered that she should recover half the net assets value of the company — overturning a previous ruling by the Supreme Court that she owned only one share, as against the 249,999 owned by her ex-husband.

Audrey Chin had in December 1993 issued an originating summons under section 16 of the Married Women's Property Act for determination by the court of her claim to a half share in the capital of the company Versatile Packing Limited, later changed to Lasco Foods Limited in 1992. She said as managing director of the company, she was responsible for the day-to-day activities of the company, and as such was partly responsible for its growth.

Lasco Group will be listing three separate affiliated companies — Lasco Manufacturing, Lasco Financial Services and Lasco Distributors -- in an effort to raise in excess of $400 million.

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