Trouble in the garden centre: the Enterprise Chamber removes one brother from the company at the request of the other

Henk and Mark van Cranenbroek, members of Quote 500 and owners of the retail chain of the same name, have been at odds with each other for years. They successfully ran the company, which they took over from their father 30 years ago, for years ‘in between their other duties’. Until 5 years ago...

Changing loyalties

Because as is the case with most families, this is what happened here too. Thirty years ago, the brothers' loyalty lay with each other and with their father. But Henk (and Mark) started families of their own, with Henk's children Joey and Cathy who are now approaching 30. And Henk wanted Joey to become a shareholder in the joint company too. That meant that Mark's side would become a minority shareholder, and he did not want that. From then on, things went wrong and the lack of formal agreements took its toll.

Henk then blocked important decisions about (new) branches, for example. Even more illustrative of the change in loyalty is that Henk helped his daughter set up a competing company called DoaBuy. He provided millions in start-up capital for this, among other things.

To the Enterprise Chamber

The case will come before the Enterprise Chamber at the beginning of 2021. An external director, share manager and investigator will be brought on board. At the end of 2024, Mark also accused his brother of mismanagement, in which the Enterprise Chamber this week agreed with him, partly because Henk blocked decision-making and shifted his loyalty to a competing company. Both their shares will be placed with an external manager for another two years. In addition, Henk was ordered to pay the investigation costs of no less than €120,000.

Make agreements in good times

The lack of proper agreements about succession had a high price for both parties: years of struggle and bitterness, legal costs and, in the end, for Henk, the €120,000 in investigation costs as well.

These types of proceedings are usually settled after the first phase (after the investigator has ruled that there was mismanagement) to prevent damage to reputation and further costs. These types of ‘second-phase decisions’ are therefore rare and usually the product of seriously embittered relationships.

That this happens in a family business is no surprise. After all, everyone knows that no one can get under your skin like your own brothers or sisters (but fortunately most people don't let it get that far).

So make good agreements, especially when everyone is still on good terms.