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Capital Markets
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July 03, 2024
VC Market Relies On AI Funding To Escape Doldrums
U.S. venture funding rose to its highest quarterly total in more than two years thanks to increased funding for artificial-intelligence focused startups, according to data provider Pitchbook, although capital raising is still far below the boom era of 2021.
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July 03, 2024
Cerevel Investors Allege Insider Trades Pre-$8.7B AbbVie Deal
A pension fund shareholder of Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings Inc. has sued the biopharmaceutical company in Delaware's Court of Chancery, seeking documents to investigate potential fiduciary duty breaches and possible insider trading shortly before the company announced its pending $8.7 billion merger with AbbVie Inc.
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July 03, 2024
2nd Circ. Overturns Enforcement Of $2B In Venezuelan Bonds
The Second Circuit on Wednesday overturned the enforcement of nearly $2 billion in defaulted bonds issued by Venezuela's state-owned oil company, following a ruling from New York's highest court that Venezuelan law, not New York law, governs the validity of the bonds.
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July 03, 2024
After Chevron Deference: What Lawyers Need To Know
This term, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, a precedent established 40 years ago that said when judges could defer to federal agencies' interpretations of law in rulemaking. Here, catch up with Law360's coverage of what is likely to happen next.
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July 03, 2024
Quest Diagnostics Paying $985M For OMERS' LifeLabs
Canadian law firm McCarthy Tétrault LLP is guiding New Jersey-based Quest Diagnostics on a newly inked deal to buy LifeLabs from the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, or OMERS, for about $985 million, Quest said Wednesday.
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July 02, 2024
Judge Expedites Briefing For Consensys SEC Challenge
Crypto firm Consensys' preemptive case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is set to move forward on an expedited basis after a Texas federal judge allowed the parties to brief any potential bids from the regulator to toss the case at the same time as Consensys' motion for a judgment in its favor.
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July 02, 2024
Harvest Capital Class Ends Chancery Merger Suit For $3.85M
Stockholder attorneys who secured a $3.85 million pretrial class settlement for an allegedly unfair Harvest Capital Credit Corp. merger deal won an above-average 25% share of the award Tuesday, in what a Delaware vice chancellor indicated was a move to reward top-flight attention to smaller-stakes litigation.
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July 02, 2024
Asia-Focused SPAC Eureka Raises $50M To Pursue Merger
Eureka Acquisition Corp. began trading Tuesday after the special-purpose acquisition company priced a $50 million initial public offering, embarking on a search to acquire a Chinese or Greater Asian business, guided by three law firms.
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July 02, 2024
Pharma Co. Scores Exit In Investor Suit Over Primate Imports
A Massachusetts federal judge tossed every claim in a proposed class action claiming that pharmaceutical company Charles River Laboratories and its executives concealed their involvement in the illegal importation of nonhuman primates for research, ruling that the disputed statements are not false or misleading.
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July 02, 2024
Levi & Korsinsky Appointed Lead In Instacart Pre-IPO Action
Levi & Korsinsky LLP has been appointed lead counsel for the investors in a suit alleging the grocery delivery company Instacart misrepresented its growth potential in the lead-up to its initial public offering.
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July 02, 2024
Chancery Cuts Sears Shareholders' $18.3M Award To $8.7M
Minority stockholders of Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores saw their class award in Delaware Chancery Court litigation trimmed from $18.3 million to $8.7 million Tuesday after former Sears CEO Edward S. Lampert and his co-defendants protested that the court had erred in its calculations.
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July 02, 2024
Bond-Rigging Suit Revived Over Judge's Wife's Stock Conflict
The Second Circuit on Tuesday revived a proposed class action accusing big banks of rigging corporate bonds, ruling that the New York federal judge who previously dismissed the suit should have recused himself due to his wife's ownership of Bank of America stock.
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July 02, 2024
FTC Challenges Tempur Sealy's $4B Mattress Firm Deal
The Federal Trade Commission moved Tuesday to block Tempur Sealy International Inc.'s planned $4 billion purchase of Mattress Firm Group Inc., saying the world's largest mattress supplier intends to use the deal to block its rivals from accessing the largest retail mattress chain in the U.S.
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July 01, 2024
SEC's High Court Loss May Sting For Banking Enforcement
The U.S. Supreme Court's latest rebuke to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to complicate enforcement for the federal banking agencies, providing new ammunition for challenges to the validity of their administrative proceedings, attorneys say.
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July 01, 2024
CFPB, Loan Trusts Push Back On PIMCO Deal Objections
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and multiple student loan trusts have urged a Pennsylvania federal judge to ignore objections from investment giant PIMCO to a proposed $5 million settlement of claims tied to alleged servicing violations by Pennsylvania's Higher Education Assistance Agency.
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July 01, 2024
Silvergate To Pay $63M Over Internal Monitoring 'Deficiencies'
The business behind now-defunct crypto-focused bank Silvergate has agreed to pay $63 million in combined penalties from regulators to settle claims its internal transaction monitoring and risk assessment of its customers, including of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, weren't up to par, regulators announced Monday.
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July 01, 2024
Carvana Seeks Toss Of Chancery Suit Alleging Faulty Sales
An attorney for online used-car sales giant Carvana Inc. on Monday urged Delaware's chancellor to toss or stay what he described as a derivative damages case "repackaged" from past or pending federal securities actions that "have not fared well."
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July 01, 2024
Metals Recycler Strikes $170M Go-Public SPAC Merger
American Resources Corp. on Monday announced that its metals recycling subsidiary will go public by merging with special-purpose acquisition company AI Transportation Acquisition Corp., in a deal that values American Metals LLC at $170 million and that was steered by three law firms.
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July 01, 2024
IPO Rebound Leads Capital Markets Recovery At Midyear
Capital markets activity moderately accelerated in the year's first six months, buoyed by the highest level of initial public offerings in three years, signaling a busy second half for deal-makers at least until the November presidential election.
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July 01, 2024
Caribou Bio Inks $3.9M Deal In Investors' Cancer Therapy Suit
Caribou Biosciences Inc. has agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle a proposed class action alleging it misled investors about the durability of its most advanced cancer-fighting therapy before and after the gene-editing biotechnology company went public, investors told a California federal judge on Friday.
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July 01, 2024
Binance, Ex-CEO Must Face 'Bulk' Of SEC Case
A Washington, D.C., federal judge has ruled that Binance, its former CEO and its U.S. arm will have to face the "bulk" of a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, but claims surrounding the crypto exchange's stablecoin and certain secondary sales of its proprietary token won't move forward.
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July 01, 2024
FC Barcelona Media Arm's $1B SPAC Merger Is Scrapped
A deal that would have taken the digital media arm for Spanish soccer giant FC Barcelona public through a $1 billion merger with special-purpose acquisition company Mountain & Co. I Acquisition Corp. has been called off, both parties have announced.
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July 01, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Two multimillion-dollar settlement approvals, a $25 million fee-shifting demand, and a biotech merger spoiled by murder: This was just the beginning of the drama last week in the nation's preeminent court of equity. Shareholders in satellite companies filed new cases, a cannabis company headed toward trial, and there were new developments in old disputes involving Tesla and Truth Social.
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July 01, 2024
CFTC Opponent Says No Chevron, No Election Betting Ban
Online trading platform operator KalshiEx told a D.C. federal court that Friday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling shutting down Chevron deference is the end of the road for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's attempts to ban election gambling on derivatives trading platforms.
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July 01, 2024
Ardian Raises $3.2B For 6th Co-Investment Fund
French private equity firm Ardian said Monday it has raised $3.2 billion for the sixth generation of its global co-investment platform, Ardian Co-Investment Fund VI.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Exxon Court Should Clarify Shareholder Proposal Exclusion
ExxonMobil last month took the unusual action of asking a Texas federal judge whether a proposal from climate activists seeking to limit oil and gas sales could be excluded from its 2024 proxy statement, and the court should use this opportunity to reevaluate SEC policy and set clear limits on when shareholder proposals can be included, says Stephen Bainbridge at UCLA School of Law.
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Mitigating The Risk Of Post-Closing M&A Earnout Disputes
Today's uncertain deal environment makes a well-crafted earnout an excellent way for parties to accomplish a desired transaction that would not otherwise occur, but transacting parties also need to take key steps to avoid the risk of post-closing disputes that earnouts can present, say Chad Barton and Claire Lydiard at Holland & Knight.
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Understanding SEC's Focus Amid Lack Of Final AI Rules
Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed rules to govern artificial intelligence are likely far from being finalized, understanding existing regulatory provisions that could address AI risks with respect to development, disclosure, compliance and data protection could help firms anticipate and avoid pitfalls, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Don't Sit On Bankruptcy Sidelines, 5th Circ. Ruling Reminds
The Fifth Circuit’s recent In re: Louisiana Pellets decision, holding that a creditor couldn’t assert indemnification defenses in a suit brought by the trustee of a liquidation trust, highlights the risks faced by creditors and other contract parties that choose not to participate in a bankruptcy, say Gregory Hesse and Kaleb Bailey at Hunton.
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Preparing For DOJ's Data Analytics Push In FCPA Cases
After the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that it will leverage data analytics in Foreign Corrupt Practice Act investigations and prosecutions, companies will need to develop a compliance strategy that likewise implements data analytics to get ahead of enforcement risks, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.
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How High Court SEC Case Could Affect The ITC
While the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy will likely spare the U.S. International Trade Commission from major operative changes, the ITC’s ability to issue penalties for violations of its orders may change, say Gwendolyn Tawresey and Ryan Deck at Troutman Pepper.
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Loan Transparency Proposals May Bring Some Clarity
U.S. banking regulators' proposed revisions to rules that would require banks to disclose more granular information about loans made to nondepository financial institutions would somewhat clarify the size of the fund finance market, though full enlightenment does not look likely in the near future, says Chris van Heerden at Cadwalader.
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Exxon ESG Proxy Statement Suit May Chill Investor Proposals
Exxon Mobil’s recent use of a Texas federal lawsuit to intimidate shareholders into withdrawing a climate-friendly proxy proposal could inspire more public companies to sue to avoid adopting ESG resolutions — a power move that would chill activist investor participation and unbalance shareholder-corporate relations, say Domenico Minerva and James Fee at Labaton Keller.
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Series
Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.
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Implications For Digital Assets After SEC Settlement With DAO
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's December settlement with BarnBridge — finding that the decentralized autonomous organization's products were securities under federal law — foreshadows increased enforcement attention on digital assets, and reveals arguments the SEC may use in similar disputes with decentralized finance protocols, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap
As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.
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Bitcoin ETF Approval Doesn't Mean SEC Approves Of Crypto
While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approval last month of 11 applications for spot exchange-traded funds tracking bitcoin is a landmark moment for the crypto-asset industry, investors who are hopeful that the SEC will approve similar crypto-based ETFs may be disappointed, says attorneys at Mintz.
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A Closer Look At Novel Jury Instruction In Forex Rigging Case
After the recent commodities fraud conviction of a U.K.-based hedge fund executive in U.S. v. Phillips, post-trial briefing has focused on whether the New York federal court’s jury instruction incorrectly defined the requisite level of intent, which should inform defense counsel in future open market manipulation cases, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.
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The Corporate Disclosure Tug-Of-War's Free Speech Issues
The continuing conflict over corporate disclosure requirements — highlighted by a lawsuit against Missouri's anti-ESG rules — has important implications not just for investors and regulated entities but also for broader questions about the scope of the First Amendment, say Colin Pohlman, and Jane Luxton and Paul Kisslinger at Lewis Brisbois.
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Crypto Issues To Watch Amid Evolving Legal Landscape
This year will likely be a momentous one for crypto in the U.S., but whether it is successful or disastrous will depend on the outcome of high-profile court decisions and key regulatory actions, say attorneys at Venable.