Stansfield Motors takes on Paramount Holdings: Obtains court order stopping Yamaha deal
Stansfield Motors Limited has joined a congress of other local companies in the country which have ganged up against Paramount Holdings Limited (PHL) Yamaha sole distributorship agreement.
In the recent fight, Stansfield has managed to obtain a court order stopping Yamaha Motor Company Limited of Japan and PHL from effecting a Yamaha sole distributorship agreement in Malawi.
The order comes against a background of the Japanese firm having purportedly certified PHL as its sole importer and seller of its products.
But through an injunction from the High Court of Malawi Commercial Division, the court has suspended the agreement.
“The order restrains you, whether by yourselves, your servants, agents or whoever other from putting into effect the purported termination of its sole distributorship agreement with the claimant [Stansfield],” the order reads in part.
Stansfield Motors general manager Kelvin Windel says that the Japanese company ended the distribution agreement between the two without notice, as such, the agreement is still valid, thereby rejecting the purported new agreement with PHL.
The claimant further said there was an oral distribution arrangement between the claimant and Yamaha that there would be a three to 12 months warranty for any products sold to compensate the company if there were defects in products.
The agreement between the two sides is also said to have stipulated that the manufacturer would supply its products’ parts after sale service up to five years after sale.
“Over the last five years, the claimant through the interested parties has sold thousands of motorcycles on the above mentioned warranties that are eligible for after-sale service, and it is next to impossible to tell how many of them will claim the said warranties and after-sale service,” the sworn statement reads in part.
Stansfield Motors has also presented before the court that in the new agreement, the Japanese company is said to have also allowed PHL to be a sole retailer which would kill indigenous businesses, contrary to the Stansfield agreement in which indigenous businesses were making retail sales.
The company also argues that PHL “has been using any possible means, legal and otherwise, to wrestle” the sole distributorship of Yamaha products in Malawi.
According to the agreement negotiated in November 2023, PHL was certified as the official importer for Yamaha motorcycles, outboard motors, water pumps generators and spare parts.
One of the PHL directors Prakashi Virjl Ghedia reportedly said his company’s goal was to expand the market for Yamaha products “most importantly” the motorcycle industry.
He is quoted as having said: “The aim of the reintroduction of Yamaha by Paramount Holding Limited is to provide a much-needed efficient solution for transportation issues for the people of Malawi.”
Other local Yamaha partners Luthando Holdings Limited and Actor Import and Export Investments are in the case as interested parties.
Three PHL executives are currently answering charges in relation to a court case in which they are suspected to have made a false document in 2020 showing that the company is an authorised dealer of Yamaha motorcycle while it was not true.
The document is said to have been uttered to Malawi Government ministries and other institutions to win tenders for the supply of Yamaha motorcycles.
Stansfield Motors has also cited that as another reason to stop PHL because its directors are answering charges relating to the same agreement.
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