- China Hires Foreigners to Manage Forex Reserves
- Cutting Jobless Will Take Time: White House's Summers
- GE, Vivendi Agree to Value NBCU Stake at $5.8 Billion
- Tuesday's ISM in Focus as Bulls Call for Turn in Dollar
- Arrest Imminent in Florida Ponzi Case: Report
- Cramer: Dubai Can’t Sink These 6 Dividend Stocks
- White House to Crank Up Pressure on Mortgage Industry
- Treasury Threatens Banks, Not Borrowers
- Good Sign for the Economy: 'Greed' Makes a Comeback
- Treasury Threatens Banks, Not Borrowers
- We're Approaching a Market Bubble: Portfolio Manager
- Hershey Shares: What Options Are Saying
- Nov. 30: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Why Careful Shoppers Are Great for the Box Office
- Blue Nile CEO: 'We're Having the Best Cyber Monday Ever'
- Best Online Retailers to Buy Now: Internet Analyst
- ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue: A Financial Success
- Cyber Monday: The Last Vestige of Dotcom Hype
MOST SHARED
- Timeless and Time-Tested Warren Buffett Watch Predictions
- Dubai World Set to Restructure About $26 Billion of Total Debt
- Dubai Stocks Could Fall a Further 30%: Charts
- Good Sign for the Economy: 'Greed' Makes a Comeback
- Dubai Markets Open Sharply Lower for Second Day
- Should Homeowners Be Able To Walk Away From Mortgage?
- Bove: 26 Banks May Need To Raise More Capital
- Blue Nile CEO: 'We're Having the Best Cyber Monday Ever'
- Treasury Threatens Banks, Not Borrowers
- Notre Dame Fires Charlie Weis After 5 Seasons
Text Size 
Two U.S. pension funds have asked a Delaware court for an emergency order to stall JPMorgan Chase from moving forward with its takeover of Bear Stearns, a plaintiff's lawyer said on Tuesday.
 |
Jin Lee / ASSOCIATED PRESS Bear Stearns |
JPMorgan [JPM
Loading...
()
] has agreed to buy 95 million newly issued Bear [BSC
Loading...
()
] shares, or a 39.5 percent stake. It is widely seen as giving JPMorgan a virtual lock on the proposed buyout, which requires majority shareholder approval. JPMorgan has said it hopes to acquire the newly issued shares by April 8.
The Detroit fund last week sued Bear Stearns in Delaware Chancery Court over the proposed JPMorgan buyout in a lawsuit seeking an injunction blocking the deal and damages for shareholders if it does close.
Since then, JPMorgan has raised its bid to $10 a share, up from $2 a share initially. But that's still nowhere near Bear's stock price of more than $170 a share last year.
"At this juncture, based on the public record and based on the company's stock price, which continues to trade at a premium ... the $10-a-share figure remains inadequate," said Nespole, of law firm Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP.
Nespole said the fund is coordinating efforts with another pension plan, the Wayne County Employees' Retirement System, which filed a separate lawsuit on Monday over the merger.
A temporary restraining order, if granted, could block the issuance of the new Bear Stearns shares while the shareholders press their legal challenges to the deal.
But legal experts have said deal challengers likely would face a tough time persuading a Delaware judge to set aside the buyout. Investors, experts say, would have to argue that the Bear Stearns board failed in its fiduciary duties to all shareholders in agreeing to the takeover, a deal that was reached as the company faced imminent collapse and was brokered with the help of the U.S. government.
Since the deal was unveiled earlier this month, Bear Stearns shareholders have been busy calling their lawyers to investigate an array of possible legal claims. At least one federal securities fraud lawsuit was filed last week, contending that Bear Stearns misled investors by allegedly hiding its true financial condition from the public.
Print
Email
- Ever wished your cab driver would stop chatting and just get to where you're going? Well, that moment is closer than ever.
- UPS is giving its customers the option to offset its carbon emissions when sending a package.
- Romania's presidential campaign has been rocked by a video that may show the president striking a 10-year-old boy.
- Raising alligators is hard work, and the fickle taste of rich consumers has just made it much harder, says the NY Times.
- A recent issue of ESPN Magazine was one of its top sellers ever, and it only took scantily clad athletes to make it happen.
- The continued real estate boom in China is partially fueled by a generational flood of newlyweds.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes