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Freeze-Outs: Transcontinental Analysis And Reform Proposals, Marco Ventoruzzo

Journal Articles

One of the most crucial, but systematically neglected, comparative differences between corporate law systems in Europe and in the United States concerns the regulations governing freeze-out transactions in listed corporations. Freeze-outs can be defined as transactions in which the controlling shareholder exercises a legal right to buy out the shares of the minority, and consequently delists the corporation and brings it private. Beyond this essential definition, the systems diverge profoundly. This gap exists despite the fact that minority freeze-outs are one of the most debated issues in corporate law, in the public media, in a vast body of scholarly work …

Freeze-Outs: Transcontinental Analysis And Reform Proposals, Marco Ventoruzzo

Journal Articles

One of the most crucial, but systematically neglected, comparative differences between corporate law systems in Europe and in the United States concerns the regulations governing freeze-out transactions in listed corporations. Freeze-outs can be defined as transactions in which the controlling shareholder exercises a legal right to buy out the shares of the minority, and consequently delists the corporation and brings it private. Beyond this essential definition, the systems diverge profoundly.

This gap exists despite the fact that minority freeze-outs are one of the most debated issues in corporate law, in the public media, in a vast body of scholarly work …

Freeze-Outs: Transcontinental Analysis And Reform Proposals, Marco Ventoruzzo

Marco Ventoruzzo

One of the most crucial, but systematically neglected, comparative differences between corporate law systems in Europe and in the United States, as crucial as often neglected, concerns the regulations governing freeze-out transactions in listed corporations. Freeze-outs can be defined as transactions in which the controlling shareholder exercises a legal right to buy out the shares of the minority, and consequently delists the corporation and brings it private. Beyond this essential definition, the systems diverge profoundly.

This gap exists despite the fact that minority freeze-outs are one of the most debated issues in corporate law, in the public media, in a …

Freeze-Outs: Transcontinental Analysis And Reform Proposals, Marco Ventoruzzo

Marco Ventoruzzo

One of the most crucial, but systematically neglected, comparative differences between corporate law systems in Europe and in the United States, as crucial as often neglected, concerns the regulations governing freeze-out transactions in listed corporations. Freeze-outs can be defined as transactions in which the controlling shareholder exercises a legal right to buy out the shares of the minority, and consequently delists the corporation and brings it private. Beyond this essential definition, the systems diverge profoundly.

This gap exists despite the fact that minority freeze-outs are one of the most debated issues in corporate law, in the public media, in a …

A Fair Price And A Fair Deal: On The Future Of 'Entire Fairness' In Freezeouts, Faith Stevelman

Articles & Chapters

Controlling shareholders can compel the sale of minorities’ shares in freezeouts, potentially to their financial detriment. To limit controllers’ opportunism and support the value of minorities’ investments, the Delaware supreme court has endorsed strong minority shareholder protections under the rubric of 'Entire Fairness' – the governing standard for cash-out mergers. However, the court of chancery has refused to apply Entire Fairness to tender offer freezeouts, and is advocating unifying freezeout doctrine around a looser, deferential standard of review. The influence of popular and Congressional concern over excess plaintiff lawyers’ fees and discovery costs is likely making itself felt, although the …

Going Private At The Intersection Of The Market And The Law, Faith Stevelman

Articles & Chapters

Delaware's fiduciary doctrine governing going private transactions by controlling stockholders is presently in disarray. Controllers generally select between single step cash-out mergers and tender offers followed by short-form mergers to do these freezeouts, and they are subject to very different equitable standards depending on the format selected. Further disarray arises because the courts' longstanding commitment to strict scrutiny in freezeouts is in tension with the popular disfavor towards private class-action litigation. This disarray threatens minority investors' interests in freezeouts, and capital market values more broadly. First, the disparities in freezeout doctrine have encouraged controllers to arbitrage the legal standards for …

Towards A Federal Fiduciary Standards Act, Marvin A. Chirelstein

Cleveland State Law Review

Despite the economic identity that exists between the firm and its security holders, fiduciary obligation is at present dichotomized between federal and state legal systems which have no very close connection to one another; the federal system dominates the security holder level while the various state systems dominate at the firm level. The position argued for in this article is favorable to the idea of federal legislation in the field of managerial conduct. In Part II, next following, I try- using the freezeout of minority shareholders as my main illustration- to develop the idea of specific solutions for fiduciary problems …

Going Private: An Analysis Of Federal And State Remedies, John A. James, Jr.

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.