August 2016 Amendments

A new piece by Skadden focuses on some old, and some new factors regarding prepayment. Since the 2016 appraisal amendments, respondents in an appraisal proceeding have had the right to ‘prepay’ some or all of the merger consideration.  The mechanics of this are basic, but deserve a moment of explanation.  In appraisal proceedings, unlike in

Law360 [$$] recently carried an analysis by a trio of Delaware attorneys regarding the impact of 2016’s prepayment amendment to Delaware appraisal law.  Part of the August 2016 amendments allowed M&A targets to prepay dissenting shareholders an amount of their choosing, thereby stopping the accrual of interest on that portion of the merger price/amount at

Cooley LLP highlights that increased appraisals are being factored into mergers.  Following up on a previous piece, Cooley LLP notes that appraisal costs can be large, referencing the over $50 million added to the merger price in Dell, and further comments on the rise of appraisal claims, which Cooley calculates as a 267% increase

A key aspect of the August 1 changes to Delaware appraisal law permits companies to unilaterally prepay some or all of the merger consideration, thereby stopping the interest accrual on such prepaid amounts.  A recent article by Bloomberg discusses prepayment strategies under this new rule and echoes the point posted to this blog repeatedly: the

As reported in The Hedge Fund Law Report‘s article, “Recent Legislative and Judicial Developments Fail to Diminish Appeal of Stockholder Appraisal Actions As Strategy for Hedge Fund Managers” [$$$], the recent statutory amendments have failed to diminish the appeal of stockholder appraisal actions as a strategy for hedge fund managers.  According to this article,