Appraisal rights and shareholder fights

Shareholder activists continue to seek appraisal rights actions togenerate value from public M&A transactions. During the past few years, those actions served not only as a way for shareholders toincrease deal value but also to generate additional returns.

At a glance

• Appraisal litigation remains the subject of much debate in legal circles.
• Experts speculate the number of actions may continue to rise.
• Given what’s at stake, it will be interesting to see whether companies develop their own tactics to combat the threat ofappraisal rights actions.
• It’s important for companies that are considering an M&A deal toreduce potential risk by taking a practical approachto both the valuation and sale process.