quote.bloomberg.com
Inprise Corp., Corel Sued by Holders
Over Planned Acquisition
By Phil Milford
Wilmington, Delaware, April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Inprise Corp.
was sued by stockholders that say a planned acquisition by Corel
Corp., maker of WordPerfect software, undervalues their shares.
Management Insights Inc., a shareholder group, sued Friday in
Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington, seeking a court order to
stop the buyout of the Scotts Valley, California-based maker of
Internet-access software. The suit also names Corel.
``Many other Inprise stockholders are not very happy with
this deal and consider it woefully inadequate,' Management
Insights says in the suit, which also asks a judge to award
damages and legal fees.
Inprise said Feb. 7 it would be bought by Ottawa, Canada-
based Corel -- exchanging 0.747 share of Corel for each Inprise
share. Corel reported $174.8 million in sales for 1999, and
Inprise had sales of about $243 million.
The suit alleges Inprise directors are violating their legal
duty to get the best price for the company because Corel
misrepresented its financial condition and Corel's shares have
fallen significantly.
The group notes that when the transaction was announced,
Corel was trading at about $20 per share, valuing each Inprise
share at $14.94 -- a premium of about $2. Shares of Corel and
Inprise have fallen about 60 percent this year.
``At the time the merger agreement was signed (the price of)
Corel's common stock was based on Corel's misrepresentation
of its
fourth quarter results for fiscal year 1999 and did not reflect
the poor results Corel expected in the first quarter of fiscal
year 2000,' the suit adds. Corel shares also fell Friday during
the general market decline.
Corel is defendant in various other lawsuits charging
violations of federal securities laws for alleged misleading
statements about earnings.
Officials of Corel and Inprise wouldn't immediately comment
on the suit. U.S. shares of Corel fell 19/32 to 6 1/4 today.
Inprise shares fell 9/32 to 4 11/16. |
