Corporate restructuring causes class action claim headaches

Staying on top of securities class action claim settlements can be frustrating and labor intensive. That task becomes even more confounding in today’s environment of corporate restructuring and mergers & acquisitions. When two companies merge, or one acquires another, there is often a reassignment of the companies’ CUSIPs and ticker symbols. When this happens, it can be extremely difficult to identify eligibility and keep track of securities class action filings.

The challenge with mergers and name changes is being able to recognize all relevant transactions as they relate to securities litigation. When organizations trigger a change in their ticker symbols due to a merger, acquisition, or name change, it is likely that a CUSIP tied to one security offering could be referenced by more than one ticker symbol. RestructuringLikewise, one ticker symbol might reference multiple CUSIPs if ownership of that particular ticker had changed over a period of time. To make matters worse, the same ticker could even reference different securities on different exchanges within the US at the same time.  Without a comprehensive map detailing how a security has been identified over time, it would be easy to miss transactions relevant to a certain securities class action settlement claim, which would result in settlement funds being forfeited.

For example, when Bank of America acquired Countrywide in 2008 (an event that recently resulted in an $8.5 billion class action settlement), there were over 12,000 different CUSIPs related to Countrywide Mortgage Securitization Trusts. All of these CUSIPs are relevant to the class action settlement and must be tracked in order to ensure full compensation for investors in those securities. Making matters even more complex, there are several other recent class actions involving Bank of America and Countrywide. In situations like these, piecing together all of the security identifiers and how they are relevant to each specific litigation can become a full-time job.

Fortunately, Financial Recovery Technologies (FRT) is dedicated to delivering the most comprehensive range of securities class action filing services available.  FRT proactively scours industry data sources in order to identify all cases and relevant securities identifiers to ensure that every possible filing can be made.  Working from client trading data, Financial Recovery Technologies is able to identify all eligible security positions to ensure that your firm capitalizes on all possible settlement funds.

Contact FRT today so we can take the confusion out of securities class actions and collect the valuable recovery dollars that you are entitled to receive.

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