Litigation developments: fundamental shareholder rights.
Episode 10: The Marketability Discount Revisited: Interview with Greg Barber
Delaware corporate law continually evolves, and 2022 was no exception. As the year draws to a close and proxy season approaches, here are highlights of significant changes that may impact 2023 annual meeting plans, among...more
In what represents a victory for private equity and venture capital investors, on Sept. 13, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a decision in Manti Holdings LLC v. Authentix Acquisition Co., confirming the enforceability of...more
In Manti Holdings, LLC v. Authentix Acquisition Co., Inc., the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s decision to enforce a waiver of appraisal rights included in a stockholders agreement executed by...more
In Manti Holdings, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a decision that a corporation can enforce an advance waiver of appraisal rights against its stockholders. In a stockholders agreement, the petitioners agreed to “refrain...more
In Manti Holdings, LLC v. Authentix Acquisition Co., Inc., No. 354, 2020, 2021 WL 4165159 (Del. Sept. 13, 2021), the Delaware Supreme Court issued an important opinion affirming the use of stockholders agreements by and among...more
In Manti Holdings, LLC v. Authentix Acquisition Co., Inc., decided Sept. 13, 2021, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that common stockholders’ statutory right to a court determination of the fair value of...more
Manti Holdings, LLC v. Authentix Acquisition Co., Inc., C.A. No. 2017-0887 SG (Del. Ch. Aug 14, 2019). In Manti Holdings, LLC v. Authentix Acquisition Co., Inc., the Court of Chancery held that a contract provision...more
Venture capital and private equity arrangements often include contractual provisions limiting the rights of investors, including drag-along provisions in connection with future transactions approved by controlling...more
Exposure to claims for appraisal can be a significant risk in merger and acquisition transactions in which dissenter’s appraisal rights are available. This risk has increased in recent years as aggressive investors realized...more
On May 15, 2019, Vice Chancellor Slights of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a ruling addressing important issues related to private company deal litigation. Specifically, the decision addressed when a release of claims...more
Over the last few years, significant developments in Delaware law and practice have changed the traditional M&A litigation landscape. These developments resulted in a dramatic reduction in pre-closing applications for...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery in Manti Holdings LLC v. Authentix Acquisition Company recently confirmed that a stockholder agreement may contractually restrict the exercise of statutory appraisal rights. Although the court...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery recently delivered the latest in a line of decisions refining the application of statutory stockholder appraisal rights in M&A transactions. In City of North Miami Beach General Employees’...more
In response to the growing practice of “appraisal arbitrage,” in 2016 Delaware’s General Assembly amended the state’s appraisal statute, Section 262 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. The amendment to Section 262(h)...more
On April 19, 2018, the Executive Committee of the Delaware State Bar Association approved proposed amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL). This year’s amendments would provide for the application of the...more
Since its adoption in 2013, parties have been using a two-step merger structure facilitated by §251(h) of Delaware’s General Corporation Law (the DGCL) as a means of avoiding the requirement of calling a special meeting of...more
• For the second time in 2017, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a Chancery Court’s decision to assign little or no weight to deal price in appraisal cases • In both cases, the court remained firm in its decision not to...more
There is a general perception that statutory appraisal challenges have been on the rise over the past several years. The Delaware Court of Chancery has issued a number of opinions during that time that use the merger price...more
In In re Appraisal of Dell Inc., No. 9322 VCL, 2016 Del. Ch. LEXIS 81 (Del. Ch. May 31, 2016) (Laster, V.C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery determined that the fair value of the common stock of Dell Inc. (“Dell” or the...more