In a decision today, the Braunschweig district court (Landgericht) has transferred two cases* brought by hedge funds investors against Porsche to the Hannover district court. The claimants are pursuing damages claims against Porsche related to Porsche’s attempt to take over Volkswagen. Read More
Category: Securities Litigation
Hedge Fund Litigation: Porsche’s Victory in Braunschweig
Here ist an update on the epic litigation battle that follows from Porsche’s failed take over of Volkswagen. Hedge funds try to recover losses suffered at the time and sue Porsche for billions of damages. The court cases have taken them on a Tour of Germany. Today, it was the Braunschweig District Court (Landgericht) which was scheduled to hand down decisions in three of the actions pending against Porsche. Read More
Update: Delisting Made Easier – Federal Supreme Court on Change of Market Segment for Listed Companies
In November 2013, we had reported on the Federal Supreme Court’s (Bundesgerichtshof) change of direction on delistings. In the Frosta judgment, the court gave up its previous position, as developed in the 2002 Macroton case, that delistings triggered the duty of the corporation itself or its majority shareholders to make a mandatory offer to buy out the minority shareholders. Professor Dirk Zetzsche reviews the new legal environment for going-private transactions in Germany in an English language article, “Going Dark Under German Law – Towards an Efficient Regime for Regular Delisting.” Here is the abstract: Read More
Porsche Litigation Comes to Frankfurt
We had covered the jurisdictional journey of the various claims brought by hedge funds against Porsche in relation to the failed Volkswagen take-over before. To the best of my knowledge, courts in London, New York – both federal and state court, so New York counts twice – Stuttgart, Braunschweig and Hannover have been dealing with various aspects of these claims so far. Der SPIEGEL now reports that new claims have been issued in Frankfurt. Read More