Financial Recovery Technologies Fast Five provides you with the top news in shareholder class actions. Stay up-to-date on the latest developments in settled (U.S./Canada) claims filing opportunities, Antitrust settlements, Global Group Litigation matters and more. For more information, contact your Financial Recovery Technologies representative or email us.

1. Investors Want $2.5 Bln in Class Action Over Bayer’s Monsanto Deal

Investors are demanding around 2.2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) from Bayer (BAYGn. DE) as part of a possible class action lawsuit in Germany over the takeover of U. S. seed manufacturer Monsanto, law firm Tilp said on Monday. The law firm said that as of Dec. 30, the sum covered lawsuits from about 320 investors, both institutional and retail, that had been filed with the district court in Cologne. This represents a significant jump from the 250-plus investors demanding damages of more than 1 billion euros that Tilp disclosed last month. Click here to read the full article.

2. Delaware Chancery Court Allows SPAC Merger Challenge to Proceed

In one of the first opinions addressing fiduciary duty claims in the context of a transaction involving a special purpose acquisition company, the Delaware Court of Chancery determined that the SPAC shareholders’ right to redeem can be undermined by insufficient disclosures regarding the transaction and allowed class-action claims to continue against a SPAC’s controlling shareholder and directors. This decision is important because it addresses some of the unique features of SPACs designed to mitigate inherent conflicts of interest in the SPAC structure, particularly the redemption feature. Click here to read the full article.

3. New York Judges Squelch Novel Derivative Suits Against Bayer, UBS Directors

In 2020, a consortium of law firms filed a series of shareholder derivative lawsuits in New York State Supreme Court that accused directors of huge foreign companies such as Bayer AG, Novartis AG, Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG of breaching their duties. The theory behind the cases was bold, even revolutionary. But last week, two Manhattan state-court judges called off the revolution. On Dec. 27, Justice Andrew Borrok dismissed the derivative case against Bayer’s board members and bankers, which alleged that defendants cost shareholders billions of dollars in Bayer’s ill-fated 2018 acquisition of Monsanto Co. Borrok concluded that plaintiffs had not established New York’s jurisdiction over claims against German board members whose deliberations on the Monsanto deal took place exclusively in Germany. Click here to read the full article.

4. Oil Majors Under Pressure as Activist Investors Circle

For decades campaigners have picketed oil and gas offices, blockaded refineries and disrupted operations. Now the energy sector is facing a new kind of activism: from its own shareholders. Over the past year activist investors have targeted oil supermajors ExxonMobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc., commodity giant Glencore Plc. and Scottish energy group SSE. Other institutional and retail investors have also pushed for change, voting in higher numbers than ever before for climate-related resolutions. The investors vary in profile and objectives, but have all tied their campaigns to what they say has been management’s failure to plan appropriately for the energy transition. Click here to read the full article.

5. Dixon Advisory Faces Second Class Action

Controversial wealth management firm Dixon Advisory is the subject of a second class action alleging the firm provided conflicted and misleading advice by steering clients into its US residential property fund. The Federal Court claim filed by class-action firm Shine Lawyers was brought on behalf of lead plaintiff Watson & Co Superannuation and lists Dixon Advisory Superannuation, its parent E & P Financial, former chief executive Alan Dixon and former executive Christopher Brown as respondents. The filing against the once prominent self-managed superannuation advisory firm comes after Piper Alderman filed a claim on behalf of another client of the firm. Click here to read the full article (subscription may be required).

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