Project Status
Forum participants were encouraged to consider appraisal rights in
June 2013 as a means of realizing the same long term intrinsic
value that the company's founder and private equity partner sought
in an opportunistic market-priced buyout, and
legal research of court
valuation standards was commissioned to support the required
investment
decisions.
The buyout transaction
became effective on October 28, 2013 at an offer price of $13.75
per share, and the appraisal case was
initiated on October 29, 2013, by
the Forum's representative petitioner, Cavan Partners, LP. The
Delaware Chancery Court issued its
decision on
May 31, 2016, establishing the intrinsic fair value of Dell shares at the
effective date as $17.62 per share, approximately 28.1% more than
the offer price, with
definitive legal explanations confirming the foundations of Shareholder Forum support
for appraisal rights.
Each of the Dell shareholders who chose to rely upon the Forum's
support satisfied the procedural requirements to be eligible for payment
of the $17.62 fair value, plus interest on that amount compounding since
the effective date at 5% above the Federal Reserve discount rate.
Note: On December 14, 2017, the
Delaware Supreme Court
reversed and remanded the
decision above, encouraging reliance upon market pricing of the
transaction as a determination of "fair value." The Forum
accordingly
reported that it would resume
support of marketplace processes instead of
judicial appraisal for the realization of intrinsic value in
opportunistically priced but carefully negotiated buyouts. |