In a letter ruling, the Delaware Chancery Court held that where neither the target nor the acquiror was a Delaware entity, the transaction documents between the parties could not confer jurisdiction in the Chancery Court...more
The fiduciary duty of care has become more aspirational than a real legal basis for potential director liability in M&A in the Age of DGCL Section 102(b)(7), Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC (Del. 2015) and In re Volcano...more
Wisconsin courts continue to distinguish Wisconsin law from that of other jurisdictions, most notably Delaware. In late 2018, the dismissal of shareholder lawsuits against National Research Corp., or NRC, and its directors in...more
The Situation: A Delaware court recently found that a board breached its fiduciary duties by bowing to activist pressure and engaging in a sale rather than continuing the business as a going concern. The Case: In re PLX...more
Following yesterday’s post concerning the status of Revlon duties in California, I received a note from Suzanne Weakley, an attorney at the California Continuing Education of the BAR (aka the CEB). For those readers not...more
There are certain seminal Delaware corporate law cases that are so well known that corporate lawyers are wont to assume that they have been adopted and followed everywhere. One such case is Revlon, Inc. v. MacAndrews &...more
Thirty years ago, the Delaware Supreme Court issued two seminal opinions concerning how courts ought to review director decisionmaking in merger and acquisition transactions. In the first case, Unocal Corporation v. Mesa...more
This is an important decision that reverses a prior opinion in the same case. The Court did so because after it issued its prior opinion, the Delaware Supreme Court issued its Corwin decision holding that when a merger is...more
In an October 1st decision (In re Zale Corporation), the Delaware Chancery Court dismissed claims that Zale Corporation’s directors breached their fiduciary duties in connection with Zale’s agreement to merge with Signet. ...more
In an October 2, 2015 decision, Corwin, et al. v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC., et al., the Delaware Supreme Court clarified that once a merger closes, as long as it has been approved by a fully informed vote of the...more
This Glossary contains many of the important terms and definitions used in the M&A world. The Glossary is not exhaustive, however. Like most areas of the law, M&A is a highly complex subject that involves several legal and...more
In Koehler v. NetSpend Holdings, Inc., 2013 Del. Ch. LEXIS 131 (Del. Ch. May 21, 2013), Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III wrote “In fact, NetSpend appears more Rapunzel than Penelope; she must, it seems, let down her hair or...more
What Revlon Doesn't Require - Two decisions by the Delaware courts (In re Family Dollar Stores, Inc. and C&J Energy Services Inc. v. City of Miami General Employees' and Sanitation Employees' Retirement Trust have more...more
Last month, in In re: Family Dollar Stores, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, a Delaware Chancery judge rejected the efforts of certain shareholders of Family Dollar Stores, Inc., to prevent Family Tree’s shareholders from voting...more
When a Delaware corporation engages in a sale of control transaction, its board's obligation is to obtain the highest value reasonably attainable. This obligation, often referred to as Revlon duties, may be fulfilled as long...more
On December 19, 2014, the Supreme Court of Delaware reversed the Delaware Court of Chancery's November decision to preliminarily enjoin for 30 days a vote by C&J Energy Services stockholders on a merger with Nabors Red Lion...more
On December 19, 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court, in C&J Energy Services, Inc. v. City of Miami General Employees' & Sanitation Employees' Retirement Trust, issued a strongly worded decision refusing to enjoin a change of...more