Litigation developments: core M&A and corporate governance doctrines
Compliance Perspectives: Due Diligence and Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO)
Controlling stockholders owe fiduciary duties to other stockholders that minority stockholders do not. A holder of over 50% of a corporation’s voting power is clearly a controlling stockholder. As a consequence, transactions...more
On April 4, 2024, the Delaware Supreme Court held in In re Match Group Inc., Derivative Litigation that the entire fairness standard of review applies to all controlling stockholder transactions in which a controller receives...more
On April 4, 2024, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated decision, In re Match Group Derivative Litigation (“In re Match Group”), extending the MFW doctrine more broadly to all conflicted controller...more
In a recent decision, the Delaware Supreme Court clarified the proper standard to apply to a non-freeze-out merger transaction involving a controlling stockholder. Litigators who practice in the Delaware Court of Chancery are...more
In In re Match Group, Inc. Derivative Litigation, the Delaware Supreme Court held that the dual procedural protections announced in the seminal case of Kahn v. M & F Worldwide Corp. (MFW) are required in order to shift the...more
On April 4, 2024, the Delaware Supreme Court issued its opinion in In re Match Group, Inc. Derivative Litigation, clarifying that the heightened entire fairness standard of review applies to judicial review of any transaction...more
Thursday, in a much anticipated decision, the Delaware Supreme Court held in In re Match Group, Inc. Derivative Litigation1 that every member of a special committee must be independent in order to satisfy the MFW2 framework...more
In 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court’s landmark Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp.1 (MFW) decision established that the deferential business judgment standard of review could apply to controlling stockholder “squeeze-out” mergers...more
IN RE DELL TECHNOLOGIES INC. CLASS V STOCKHOLDERS LITIGATION There has been a growing deference in Delaware courts for transactions approved by independent special committees and minority stockholders. In the context of a...more
Consistent with trends in recent years, in 2019 Delaware corporation law largely was shaped by post-closing suits for money damages against directors who had approved mergers and acquisitions. Two Delaware Supreme Court...more
Corporate Governance and Securities Law Developments - Directors Can Be Held Liable for Failure to Oversee “Mission Critical” Regulatory Compliance - On October 1, the Delaware Court of Chancery refused to dismiss a...more
The first half of 2019 saw several decisions from the Delaware courts that will affect M&A dealmaking - Aruba: Supreme Court awards "deal price less synergies" in closely watched appraisal case - Rejecting the Chancery...more
The Delaware Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC1 fashioned a powerful defense in post-closing money damages cases for boards of directors by finding that business judgment deference applies...more
To obtain business judgment deference, controllers must insist on MFW’s minority protections before engaging in any substantive economic or valuation discussions. The Delaware Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Kahn v. M&F...more
When challenged, transactions involving a corporation and its conflicted controlling stockholder invoke Delaware’s rigorous form of judicial scrutiny, known as entire fairness review. But not always. With the right...more
On April 5, 2019, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed in part and affirmed in part a decision of the Delaware Court of Chancery that had dismissed a stockholder challenge to an all-stock business combination between...more
In Olenik v. Lodzinski, the Delaware Supreme Court found that the conditions required for business judgment review of a controlling stockholder transaction under the MFW standard were not in place “at the outset” of the...more
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
On February 20, 2019, Skadden held a webinar titled “2019 M&A and Corporate Litigation Trends.” The panelists were litigation partner and Delaware litigation practice leader Edward Micheletti and litigation counsel Jenness...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
The Delaware courts issued a number of significant decisions in 2018 that are likely to have ripple effects throughout 2019. Among them were a series of cases that further developed the parameters of the Corwin and MFW...more
Under Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC1 and its progeny, “when disinterested, fully informed, uncoerced stockholders approve a transaction absent a looming conflicted controller,” the irrebuttable business judgment rule...more
The Delaware Supreme Court’s seminal decision in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corporation (MFW) offers a pathway for having challenges to controlling stockholder “squeeze-out” mergers reviewed under the highly deferential business...more
In Flood v. Synutra Int’l Inc., the Delaware Supreme Court clarified its holding in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp. (“MFW”). ...more
In its recent decision in Arthur Flood v. Synutra International, Inc., et al., No. 101, 2018 opinion (Del. Oct. 9, 2018), the Delaware Supreme Court clarified when an acquisition of a company by a controlling stockholder will...more