July 14, 2016
More on the Dell Appraisal Saga
Here’s an excerpt from this report by Gary Lutin, who has been closely following the Dell appraisal case (and there’s a new court order today establishing a schedule for discovery):
Surprisingly little has been learned about the Dell settlement with T Rowe Price, which has in itself fueled speculation.
A transcript of the private Monday morning teleconference was obtained,[2] but actually raised more questions than it answered. Stuart Grant of Grant & Eisenhofer (“G&E”), the appointed Lead Counsel for eligible appraisal claimants, was in the teleconference acting as counsel for the ineligible T Rowe Price petitioners that had been dismissed from the appraisal case. He and Dell’s counsel verbally summarized an agreement they had negotiated to pay the ineligible “Settling Petitioners” $.88 per share simply to give up whatever rights they had to appeal, and Mr. Grant explained that it was urgent to get court approval quickly, without delays that might be involved in an open review by all claimants, “so that it could be accounted for in the second quarter for all of my clients, which, understanding that they are various funds, quarters matter to them.”[3] No mention was made of a written agreement during the teleconference, and there was no reference to any documented agreement in the Court’s subsequent Order approving what had been summarized.[4]