The Plight of the UK Private Company Minority Shareholder - European Business Law Review View The Plight of the UK Private Company Minority Shareholder by - European Business Law Review The Plight of the UK Private Company Minority Shareholder 33 1

Agency cost analysis is a fundamental aspect of Anglo-American company law theory. Within the company three types are said to exist: director/shareholder, majority/ minority and firm/outside world. Whilst law is, doctrinally, consistent at mitigating the first of these (the paradigmatic corporate agency cost), it fails to mitigate the second. Several features of UK company law exacerbate this agency cost, which is felt most acutely in private companies. Ostensible protections for the minority fail to mitigate these issues. This raises questions for company law theory: should law provide additional minority protections, or do fundamental differences exist between categories of agency costs identified within the company?

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