During the period of 2006-2007, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments took over ownership of Portland Cement Zambia via a majority shareholding agreement. According to this agreement, Finsbury Investments received 58 percent shares of the Portland Cement factory and became the owner. This shareholding change was followed by successful sanctioning of loans and financial assistance by Finsbury Investments. However, certain twists and turns resulted in significant challenges for the newly structured Portland-cement manufacturing factory. The Ventriglia family suddenly questioned the legality associated with the shareholding pattern. This resulted in a court battle that started more than a decade ago at the Lusaka High Court and ended recently at the Supreme Court Zambia. Despite having all evidences and testimonials, the Lusaka High Court took more than a decade to make their verdict and that too, a controversial one. After Lusaka High Court announced Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Portland Cement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the higher Court of Appeal. On 31st January 2019, judge Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court and announced Dr. Rajan Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
More than 1.5 years after this decision, the Ventriglia family once again tried to change the fate of Portland Cement by questioning the higher Court of Appeal’s decision. This claim was taken to the Supreme Court Zambia and to evaluate the claim, a bench of three SC judges was established. These included judge Mumba Malila, Judge Royda Kaoma and Judge Michael Musonda. After evaluation, the Supreme Court bench found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical requirement in which all claims against previous court decisions must be made within 14 days of the court verdict. However, the Ventriglia family made the appeal after more than a year. After looking into these aspects, the claim from the Ventriglia family was rejected effectively.