The shareholders' agreement's corporate impact

Artiklen behandler spørgsmålet om, hvilken retsvirkning en aktionær- eller anpartshaveroverenskomst (med seneste sprogbrug fra betænkning nr. 1498/2008: en "ejeraftale" eller "kapitalejeraftale") har for et selskabs generalforsamling og bestyrelse. Det konkluderes, at ejeraftalen kan blive "selv-eksekverende" på generalforsamlingen, såfremt den stemmeretsforpligtelse, der fremgår af aftalen, er entydig, og aftalen omfatter eller kendes af alle aktionærer. Derimod har ejeraftalen ingen virkning for selskabets bestyrelse. Hvis bestyrelsen ønskes påvirket, kan det ikke ske ad aftaleretlig vej, men må ske gennem vedtægter og forretningsorden.The article deals with the question of the corporate law impact of shareholders' agreements under Danish law. The comments and recommendations of report nr. 1498/2008 (with suggestions for at new Danish corporate legislation for public and private companies) is taken into consideration, and it is demonstrated that under present Danish law, the agreements can, under certain conditions, obtain effect on the decisions of the general assembly, provided that the agreement is known by all shareholders. The report suggests some modifications to this state of law, but the article demonstrates that these suggestions should be modified. Finally, the article demonstrates, also considering the remarks in 1498/2000, that the shareholders' agreement can and will have no effect on decisions of the board. If one wishes to influence board decisions, this must be done through the articles of association of the company