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Appraisal of Panera Bread: Court of Chancery Again Defers to Deal Price, Denies Request for a Refund of the Amount of Synergies

In re Appraisal of Panera Bread Co., C.A. No. 2017-0593-MTZ (Del. Ch. Jan. 31, 2020). JAB Holdings B.V. (“JAB”), a private company that also owns Einstein Bros., Caribou Coffee and Krispy Kreme, acquired Panera Bread...more

Chancery Sustains Claims Against Board Chairman who Rolled Over Equity in Going-Private Transaction and Officers Who Crafted...

Morrison v. Berry, C.A. No. 12808-VCG (Del. Ch. Dec. 31, 2019). Plaintiff, a former stockholder of The Fresh Market, Inc. (the “Company”), brought claims arising out Apollo’s 2016 acquisition of the Company....more

Chancery Dismisses Stockholder Claims that a Minority Owner was a Controlling Stockholder or that a Majority of the Board was...

In re: Essendant, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, C.A. No. 2018-0789-JRS (Del. Ch. Dec. 30, 2019). When as here a Delaware corporation’s charter contains an exculpation provision under Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware...more

Chancery Denies Former Derivative Plaintiff Standing to Challenge Merger That Extinguished Derivative Claims

Morris v. Spectra Energy P’tners (DE) GP, LP, C.A. No. 2019-0097-SG (Del. Ch. Sept. 30, 2019). When a stockholder derivative claim is extinguished in a merger, the former derivative plaintiff may have standing to contest...more

Chancery Again Defers to Deal Price in Appraisal

In re Appraisal of Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc., Cons. C.A. Nos. 12736-VCL (Del. Ch. Aug. 12, 2019). In Columbia Pipeline Group, the Court of Chancery applied the appraisal precepts established by the recent appellate...more

Chancery Addresses the Implied Covenant in an At-Will Employment Relationship and Delaware’s Statutory Restriction on Physicians’...

Dunn v. Fastmed Urgent Care, C. A. No. 2018-0934 MTZ (Aug. 30, 2019). This case arises out of a physician’s sale of his limited liability company interest, and his subsequent attempts to enforce oral promises outside of –...more

Superior Court CCLD Addresses Pleading Standards for Trade Secret, Fraud and Implied Covenant Claims

Brightstar Corp. v. PCS Wireless, LLC, C.A. No. N18C-10-250 PRW CCLD (Del. Super. Ct. Aug. 7, 2019). Brightstar and PCS, two competitors that distribute new and pre-owned mobile devices, entered into a buy/sell agreement...more

Chancery Denies Motion to Dismiss Claim for Breach of Earn-Out When Unable to “Divine any Meaning” From Provision

Western Standard, LLC v. SourceHOV Holdings, Inc., C.A. No. 2018-0280-JRS (Del. Ch. July 24, 2019). Defendant Pangea acquired BancTec through a merger agreement that provided for an earn-out to former BancTec stockholders...more

Chancery Determines Appraisal “Fair Value” Below Merger Consideration, Questions Judicial Notice of Valuation Scholarship

In re Appraisal of Jarden Corp., Consol. C.A. No. 12456-VCS (Del. Ch. July 19, 2019). This decision presents another cautionary tale for stockholders of a target public company who consider seeking statutory appraisal...more

Chancery Upholds Adequacy of Description of Buyer’s Indemnification Claims but Finds Indemnification Request for Pending...

Horton v. Organogenesis Inc.,C.A. No. 2018-0537-KSJM (Del. Ch. July 22, 2019). Sellers in merger agreements generally agree to indemnify buyers for certain “Losses” but require the buyers to provide timely notice of...more

Chancery Holds Tension Between “Bespoke” Provision Governing Post-Closing Conduct and a Boilerplate Survival Clause Requires...

Dolan v. Altice USA, Inc., C.A. No. 2018-0651-JRS (Del. Ch. Jun. 27, 2019). The founders of Cablevision Systems Corp., the Dolan family, in connection with a $17.7 billion acquisition of that entity by Altice Europe N.V....more

Citing Trulia and Walgreens Decisions, Federal District Court Orders Plaintiffs’ Counsel to Return Agreed-Upon Mootness Fee

House v. Akorn, Inc., Consol. Nos. 17-C-5018, 17-C-5022, 17-C-5026 (N.D. Ill. Jun. 24, 2019). Disclosure-only settlements of stockholder class actions have received increased scrutiny following the Delaware Court of...more

Merger Agreement’s Preservation of Privilege for Pre-Merger Communications Found to be Adequate, Notwithstanding that the...

Shareholder Representative Services LLC v. RSI Holdco, LLC, C.A. No. 2018-0517-KSJM (Del. Ch. May 29, 2019). This decision confirms that, in a post-merger dispute between an acquirer and the selling stockholders, broad...more

Chancery Declines to Award Fees to Stockholders Who Opposed “Corporate Benefit”

Almond v. Glenhill Advisors LLC, C.A. No. 10477-CB (Del. Ch. Apr. 10, 2019). Under the “corporate benefit doctrine,” litigants whose efforts result in a substantial benefit to a Delaware corporation or its stockholders...more

Delaware Supreme Court Rejects MFW Defense Because of Delay in Safeguards

Olenik v. Lodzinksi, No. 392, 2018 (Del. Apr. 5, 2019). Under Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp., 88 A.3d 635 (Del. 2014), deferential business judgment review governs mergers between a controlling stockholder and the controlled...more

Superior Court CCLD Holds that Anti-Reliance Clause Clearly Disclaimed Reliance on Extra-Contractual Representations or Implied...

Affy Tapple, LLC v. ShopVisible, LLC, C.A. No. N18C-07-216 (MMJ) (CCLD) (Del. Super Mar. 7, 2019). In agreements governed by Delaware law, a standard integration or merger clause will not bar claims for misrepresentations...more

Chancery Applies Corwin Doctrine to Medium-Form Merger Absent Controller Conflict 

English v. Narang, C.A. No. 2018-0221-AGB (Del. Ch. Mar. 20, 2019). Under the well-known Corwin doctrine, when a transaction not subject to the entire fairness standard of review is approved by a fully informed, uncoerced...more

Chancery Declines to Extend Rent-A-Center Merger Agreement, But Questions Request for Termination Fee

Vintage Rodeo Parent, LLC v. B. Riley Financial, Inc., C.A. No. 2018-0927-SG (Del. Ch. Mar. 14, 2019). The merger agreement at issue in this case included provisions permitting extensions or terminations to account for...more

Chancery Enjoins Unfair Merger Pending Corrective Disclosures, But Declines to Order a “Go Shop”

FrontFour Capital Grp. LLC v. Taube, C.A. No. 2019-0100-KSJM (Del. Ch. Mar. 11, 2019) - This decision involves an increasingly rare occurrence in Delaware: an expedited pre-closing fiduciary duty challenge to a proposed...more

Chancery Declines to Dismiss Claim that Acquirer Failed to Use “Commercially Reasonable Efforts” to Reach Earn-out Milestones

Himawan v. Cephalon, Inc., C.A. No. 2018-075-SG (Del. Ch. Dec. 28, 2018). Parties in M&A transactions commonly include efforts clauses, like the obligation to use best efforts, commercially reasonable efforts, etc., to...more

High Court Again Denies 'Corwin' Deference Due to Material Omissions Concerning Sale Process

Earlier this year, the Delaware Supreme Court held that Corwin deference was not warranted where a recommendation statement to stockholders disclosed that a founder and board chairman abstained from recommending in favor of...more

Chancery Court Declines Stockholder Invitations to Expand Transactions Subject to Appraisal Rights

Appraisal rights have been the subject of increased focus in the current, post-Corwinenvironment, in which a fully-informed noncoerced stockholder vote suffices to dispose of most M&A challenges. In two recent decisions, the...more

Chancery Greenlights Use of Books and Records Demands to Buttress Post-'Corwin' M&A Challenges

Stockholder M&A challenges in the Delaware Court of Chancery have declined in the wake of the well-known Trulia (and its federal corollary Walgreens) and Corwin decisions, which respectively reduced incentives for pre-closing...more

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