Litigation developments: fundamental shareholder rights.
Episode 10: The Marketability Discount Revisited: Interview with Greg Barber
In Ramcell, Inc. v. Alltel Corp., C.A. No. 2019-0601-PAF (Del. Ch. July 1, 2022), the Court of Chancery reviewed a 2019 short-form merger between Alltel Corporation (Alltel) and Jackson Cellular Telephone Co. (Jackson), that...more
In re GGP, Inc. Stockholder Litig., C.A. No. 2018-0267 (Del. July 19, 2022) - Here, the defendants organized a merger so that a large majority of the total value of the merger would be granted as a pre-closing dividend to...more
In In re GGP Stockholder Litigation, 2022 WL 2815820 (Del. July 19, 2022), an M&A transaction split the merger consideration into two parts: an oversized pre-closing dividend totaling over $9 billion, followed by a nominal...more
On July 19, 2022, in an opinion authored by Justice Gary F. Traynor, a majority of the Supreme Court of Delaware sitting en banc affirmed in part and reversed in part the dismissal of breach of fiduciary duty claims against...more
For the purposes of a statutory appraisal under Delaware law, a corporation’s fair value is determined “on the date of the merger” ― in other words, at closing, not signing. However, deal terms, including price, are typically...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 Reynolds American Inc. v. Third Motion Equities Master Fund Ltd., et al., 2021-NCSC-162 (Dec. 17, 2021), the Supreme Court of North Carolina unanimously affirmed the North Carolina Business Court’s 189-page decision...more
The Delaware Supreme Court recently decided that an agreement (sometimes referred to as a “drag along”) to waive prospectively statutory appraisal rights is fully enforceable against the common stockholders who made such...more
Manti Holdings, LLC, et al. v. Authentix Acquisition Co., Inc., No. 354, 2020 (Del. Sept. 13, 2021) - This decision arose out of the acquisition of Authentix Acquisition Company, Inc. and a subsequent appraisal proceeding...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
Jarden, LLC v. ACE Am. Ins. Co., C.A. No. N20C-03-112 AML CCLD (Del. Super. July 30, 2021) - Director and corporate liability insurance coverage is determined by the specific language of the insurance policies. Last year,...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
In a string of seminal decisions from 2017 through 2019 (DFC Global, Dell and Aruba), the Delaware Supreme Court re-shaped appraisal jurisprudence, in each case by overturning the Court of Chancery for failing to give...more
When parties consider an M&A transaction involving a merger, a factor that is top of mind for counsel is complying with the statutory appraisal procedures afforded to holders of equity in the merging entity who do not consent...more
Fir Tree Value Master Fund, L.P. v. Jarden Corp., No. 454, 2019 (Del. July 9, 2020) - Adding to its appraisal jurisprudence, the Supreme Court of Delaware recently affirmed the use of the unaffected trading price of a...more
On July 9, 2020, in an en banc opinion authored by Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz, Jr., the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a decision by the Delaware Court of Chancery, which relied on the unaffected stock price of Jarden...more
In the first trial of its kind in North Carolina, the North Carolina Business Court has determined the fair value of dissenters’ shares in a large, publicly-traded company under the North Carolina Appraisal Rights statute,...more
We’ve previously written about how appraisal rights are a factor considered by deal-makers during the merger process, as well as by in-house counsel and other professionals involved in mergers: but are appraisal rights part...more
As COVID-19 continues to cause uncertainty in M&A transactions, investors should have a heightened interest in pursuing the rights available to them, including appraisal and inspection rights....more
This issue focuses on important, developing areas of Delaware corporation law and deal litigation, including recent trends in Delaware corporate disclosure law, the Delaware Supreme Court’s important ruling in Marchand v....more
In Manti Holdings, LLC v. Authentix Acquisition Co., Inc., C.A. No. 2017-0887 SG (Del. Ch. Aug 14, 2019), the Delaware Court of Chancery (the “Court”) held that Contractual agreements limiting or waiving future appraisal...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
This quarter’s issue includes summaries and associated court opinions of selected cases principally decided between May and August 2019....more
N.C. Business Court Addresses the Scope of a Judicial Appraisal Proceeding- In Reynolds American Inc. v. Third Motion Equities Master Fund Ltd. et al., 2019 NCBC 35 (N.C. Super. Ct. June 4, 2019), the Business Court...more
Previously, we reported an important ruling of first impression by the Delaware Superior Court that a shareholder appraisal action against Pillsbury’s client Solera Holdings Inc. was a “Securities Claim” under Solera’s...more