黑洞社区

1 Norman Foster vs Ken Shuttleworth

Norman Foster took a leaf out of Stalin鈥檚 book when he doctored a photograph in a belated attempt to distance himself from former colleague Ken Shuttleworth. The two had fallen out after Ken gave an interview to 黑洞社区 in which he claimed much of the glory for the Swiss Re. He left shortly after to found Make. Foster (we presume) responded by moving him 5m to the left in a group photo.

2 Alfred vs Sir Robert

The lawyers had a busy time in 2004 when publicly quoted Alfred McAlpine changed its trading name to 鈥淢cAlpine鈥�. Family firm Sir Robert McAlpine, a distant cousin of Alfred, issued an injunction to stop the name change on the ground that Alfred would be 鈥減assing itself off鈥� as Sir Robert. Alfred denied this, and the pair ended up at the High Court. After some mud slinging 鈥� Alfred was accused of having a 鈥減oor payment record鈥� 鈥� Mr Justice Mann ruled that Alfred McAlpine must not use the name without the 鈥淎lfred鈥� prefix.

3 The McCarthys, and McCarthy and Stone

One of construction鈥檚 most famous housebuilding families raised the City temperature in 2003 when Spencer and Clinton McCarthy, the sons of John, the McCarthy and Stone founder and chair, made a 拢600m offer to buy the company.

Dad John supported the bid, but the rest of the board rejected it, prompting Keith Lovelock, the chief executive to announce: 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure what the outcome of all this will be. John is on a fixed-term contract which expires in December.鈥�

McCarthy senior duly 鈥渞etired鈥� from the board of the company he started and the following year sold his stake for 拢74m. After a second failed bid recently, the McCarthys are once again tipped to renew their interest in the firm that bears their name before too long.

4 The Millers

It wasn鈥檛 a happy Christmas for the Miller clan in 2007. A group of shareholders led by James Miller, Keith Miller鈥檚 cousin and a former chairman of Miller Group, said it planned to sell its 64% stake in the company. It was February before the group struck a deal with Keith Miller that allowed its members to sell their shares on Miller鈥檚 internal market.

Miller would not reveal which shareholders had departed but said the dispute had been caused by the 鈥渓iquidity requirements鈥� of some shareholders. The Bank of Scotland then purchased an undisclosed stake in the business, leading Keith Miller to proclaim that the dispute had been resolved 鈥渃ompletely and forever.鈥�

5 Pidgely and son

Back in 2003, Tony Pidgely junior launched a coup at his father鈥檚 Berkeley Group housebuilder. He made a 拢1bn bid for the company, which had been founded by his father. He quickly abandoned the idea after his dad effectively told him to behave himself.