News & Analysis as of

Fiduciary Duty Minority Shareholders Mergers

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

In re Oracle Corporation Derivative Litigation: Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Chancery Court Decision Not to Impose Fiduciary...

On January 21, 2025, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s decision in In re Oracle Corp. Derivative Lit., finding that a less than 50% stockholder does not owe fiduciary duties absent evidence of either...more

Clark Hill PLC

Is Arizona Putting a Chill on Freeze-Out Mergers?

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Dealing with – or being – a minority shareholder can be problematic, and friction between majority and minority owners is not uncommon. The majority owner may find itself hamstrung in its efforts to conduct business by the...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Holds That Dilution Claims Against a Controller Are Solely Derivative, Overruling Prior Precedent

Fenwick & West LLP on

On September 20, 2021, the Delaware Supreme Court took the highly unusual step of overruling its prior decision in Gentile v. Rossette. An oft-criticized precedent from 2006, Gentile created an exception allowing minority...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Recent MFW-Related Developments in Delaware Courts

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

Morris James LLP

Chancery Dismisses Claims that Minority Stockholders who Rolled Over Equity in a Controlling Stockholder Merger Joined a “Control...

Morris James LLP on

Gilbert v. Perlman, C.A. No. 2018-0453-SG (Del. Ch. Apr. 29, 2020) - Delaware law imposes fiduciary duties upon controlling stockholders who use their power to control the corporate machinery. For that reason, determining...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Enjoins Unfair Merger Orchestrated by Controlling Stockholder Pending Corrective Disclosures

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Under Delaware law, majority or controlling stockholders owe fiduciary duties to the company and its minority stockholders. Under certain circumstances, however, a stockholder that owns less than 50 percent of the company’s...more

White & Case LLP

2018 Half-year in review: M&A legal and market developments

White & Case LLP on

We set out in the attached Newsletter a number of interesting English court decisions and market developments which have taken place in the second half of 2018 and their impact on M&A transactions. This review looks at these...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

From the Get-Go: Interpreting MFW’s Ab Initio Requirement

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

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Getting to Business Judgment in an Interested Transaction: Controlling Stockholder Must Put Procedural Protections in Place Prior...

In Flood v. Synutra Int’l, Inc., No. 101, 2018, 2018 Del. LEXIS 460 (Del. Oct. 9, 2018), the Delaware Supreme Court (Strine, C.J.) held that a controlling stockholder who pursues a merger with the controlled company will have...more

Morris James LLP

Court Of Chancery Explains Who Is A Controller

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In Re Hansen Medical Inc. Stockholders Litigation, C.A. 12316-VCMR (June 18, 2018) - This is another decision in a series of recent decisions where the Court of Chancery had to decide if a less-than-50% stockholder...more

A&O Shearman

Who’s the Boss? Minority Stockholders That Exercise Control

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In two recent cases, the Delaware Court of Chancery provided informative guidance on when stockholders that hold less than 50% of a corporation’s stock are nevertheless considered to be controlling stockholders. This inquiry...more

McCarter & English, LLP

Delaware Law Updates – Court of Chancery Puts Boards of Directors on Notice that Contracting Away Derivative Claims in a Merger...

Vice Chancellor Glasscock has held that a merger designed to eliminate derivative claims against a majority of directors justified the application of the entire fairness standard of review in a direct challenge to the merger....more

Proskauer - Corporate Defense and Disputes

N.Y. Court of Appeals Adopts Business Judgment Rule, with Conditions, for Going-Private Mergers

The New York Court of Appeals has followed Delaware in holding that the business-judgment rule applies to going-private mergers as long as certain shareholder-protective measures are met. The court’s May 5, 2016 decision in...more

Smith Anderson

Tyranny of the Minority: North Carolina Business Court Explores Potential Fiduciary Duties of Minority Shareholders

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The North Carolina Business Court recently issued an opinion considering whether a minority shareholder can ever be considered a “controlling shareholder” who owes a fiduciary duty to other shareholders. The court’s opinion...more

Bracewell LLP

Delaware Court Holds Interested Directors Liable for "Fairer Price" In Going Private Transaction

Bracewell LLP on

In one of the largest ever M&A-related recoveries for shareholders, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster ordered Dole Food Company, Inc.’s Chairman and CEO, David Murdock, and Dole’s former President, COO and General Counsel, C....more

Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C.

Mergers & Acquisitions Glossary

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

Brooks Pierce

Minority Shareholder Owed No Fiduciary Duty To Other Shareholders In Merger Transaction

Brooks Pierce on

Judge Gale's decision earlier this month in Corwin v. British American Tobacco PLC, 2015 NCBC 74 dismissed all of the claims of the Plaintiff class. If the name Corwin is ringing a bell with you, his case is the shareholder...more

Proskauer - Corporate Defense and Disputes

Applying Delaware’s Direct vs. Derivative Analysis to Contract Claims

In NAF Holdings, LLC v. Li & Fung (Trading) Limited, 2014 WL 6462825 (2d Cir. Nov. 19, 2014), the Second Circuit considered, but did not decide, whether the usual direct/derivative analysis governing minority stockholder...more

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