SINGAPORE - When Peranakan cuisine icon Violet Oon and her two children gave half of their company to businessman Manoj Murjani in 2014, they believed they had found a business partner who could take her brand international.
In April, Mr Murjani made an offer to buy the family out for $6 million, on the condition that the family cannot use the “Violet Oon” name forever.The family is seeking a court order to allow them to buy Group MMM’s shares in the company, at a price to be separately determined by the court or a court-appointed valuer.
The family said they had legitimate expectations that each side would bear their fair share of the financial responsibility in running the company; that the company’s branding would remain rooted in Ms Oon’s personal identity; and that the family would be involved in the day-to-day management, while the defendants would inject funds and provide mentorship to grow the business.
The family said that in November 2017, Mr Murjani began making demands to be inserted into the brand narrative as a co-founder of the company. They also accused Mr Murjani of cutting Ms Oon out of the company’s narrative, by shifting the brand to “VO Singapore” and adding the words “a Group MMM partnership”.
The defendants argued that the company was not a quasi-partnership formed on the basis of mutual trust and confidence, and there were therefore no legitimate expectations beyond the written agreements.Mr Murjani said the February 2019 agreement was not made under duress, but in the spirit of amicably moving forward and building the company together.