Litigation developments: fundamental shareholder rights.
Episode 10: The Marketability Discount Revisited: Interview with Greg Barber
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 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
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
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
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
This quarter’s issue includes summaries and associated court opinions of selected cases principally decided between May and August 2019....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
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 August 12, 2019, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled in a post-trial opinion that the fair value of Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc. (“Columbia”) was equal to the deal price in an...more
The decision makes clear that deal price is an appropriate indicator of fair value even where there is only one bidder. In Verition Partners Master Fund, Ltd. v. Aruba Networks, Inc., the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a...more
On April 16, 2019, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a significant appraisal decision from the Court of Chancery in Verition Partners v. Aruba Networks, Inc., holding that the Chancery Court abused its discretion in using...more
On April 16, 2019, the Delaware Supreme Court, in a per curiam decision, held that Aruba Networks, Inc.’s (“Aruba”) fair value in an appraisal action was $19.10 per share, reversing the Court of Chancery’s valuation of $17.13...more
In the second half of 2018, the Delaware courts once again produced decisions that will guide M&A transactions in the future. Three cases affecting US M&A stood out in 2018....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 development of Delaware appraisal law has continued with the Delaware Supreme Court’s highly anticipated December 2017 appraisal opinion in Dell, Inc. v. Magnetar Global Event Driven Master Fund Ltd. In Dell, the court...more
On February 15, 2018, in the statutory appraisal proceeding of Verition Partners Master Fund Ltd. v. Aruba Networks, Inc., the Delaware Court of Chancery decided that the “most persuasive evidence” of Aruba Networks’ fair...more
In a recent appraisal decision, Verition Partners Master Fund Ltd. v. Aruba Networks, Inc. (Aruba Networks), the Delaware Court of Chancery awarded 30% less to the shareholders than they would have received had they not...more
Developments in appraisal law, the application of Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC in post-closing damages actions and the potential expansion of Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corporation (MFW) — a case examining the standard of...more