Would the Memo & Arts provide guidance?
Thanks to you both for your comments.
The shareholders wishing to leave the company have yet to concretely decide whether they wish to redeem their shares. By all appearances, they seem to be happy to leave their investments stand on the hope of getting a return somewhere down the road (contradictory to their actions, I know!). However, this attitude we are seeing at present could change very quickly and hopefully we will be able to come to some agreement for the company to return their capital over time (some sort of share buy-back) or, as you both suggested, to buy them out at an agreed value.
Starting again from scratch would be a nightmare. We have put so much work in to laying the foundations for the company (business planning, getting grant assistance, professional memberships, equipment purchase, rental leases etc.) that it would be a real negative to us at the moment personally to have to go back to the drawing board. We have been establishing relationships with potential clients under the company banner and to disappear for a while and come back under a different name would look really dodgy and would be hard to maintain any credibility.
Do you know if the M&A of the company would provide guidance on this situation? Do you feel we should get legal advice at this stage to try to protect the remaining shareholder that wish to give this a go?