At one point in time, batch files were processed one line at a time, with an open and close each time. So technically, the batch file did complete, but there was no distinction between the first line completing vs. the whole thing being complete. One other thing to try is CreateProcess() instead of ShellExecuteEx().
"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it." - Ellen Goodman
"To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; to have deference for others governs our manners." - Laurence Sterne