duties by refusing to waive certain restrictions in the standstill agreement, specifically by not allowing Bidder J to publicly respond to the Board’s characterization of its bid, or to directly present to the public stockholders a competing bid and by asking for stockholder approval of the Transactions on the basis of a materially false and misleading proxy statement. In particular, the Beauchemin Action alleges that the proxy statement is materially misleading on the grounds that it mischaracterizes the history of negotiations with Bidder J and the content of Bidder J’s bids and provides allegedly pretextual reasons for the Special Committee’s stated concerns regarding Bidder J’s bids. The Beauchemin Action seeks, among other things, a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining the Board and Special Committee from enforcing the terms of the standstill against Bidder J, and a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining the Board and Special Committee from consummating the Transactions until the Consortium is able to bid without restriction from the standstill against Bidder J and until the Company issues a proxy statement that corrects the alleged material omissions and misstatements. Along with his September 11 complaint,. Tthe plaintiff in the Beauchemin Action has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in furtherance of the same, and a motion to expedite seeking expedited relief from the court. On September 25, 2023, plaintiff in the Beauchemin Action served requests for production on the defendants and issued subpoenas to certain advisors of the Company and the Special Committee and Saba Capital Management, LP. On September 26, 2023, the Court held argument on the motion to expedite, during which it denied the motion without prejudice on the grounds that it was premature given the ongoing nature of the Special Committee’s deliberations. The Court ordered the parties to negotiate a plan for expedited discovery in the event it ordered such discovery at a later date. On October 15, the plaintiff in the Beauchemin Action filed an amended complaint, and on October 16, 2023, renewed his motion to expedite, which Defendants did not oppose. On October 17, 2023, the Court granted the renewed motion to expedite. The Company, Board and Special Committee deny any alleged wrongdoing, and intend to oppose any request for a preliminary injunction.
On October 17, 2023, stockholders and former Executive Managing Directors Daniel S. Och, Harold A. Kelly, Jr., Richard Lyon, James O’Connor, and Zoltan Varga filed a purported class action complaint on behalf of themselves and purportedly all other similarly situated stockholders of the Company against Marcy Engel, Bharath Srikrishnan, Charmel Maynard, David Bonanno, James Levin, Wayne Cohen, Sculptor Capital Management, Inc., Sculptor Capital LP, Sculptor Capital Advisors LP, Sculptor Capital Advisors II LP, Calder Sub, Inc., Calder Sub I, LP, Calder Sub II, LP, Calder Sub III, LP, and Rithm Capital Corp. in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, captioned Och, et al. v. Engel, et al., C.A. No. 2023-1043-SG (the “Former EMD Group Action”). The complaint in the Former EMD Group Action alleges, among other things, that the Board and Special Committee violated their fiduciary duties by refusing to accept the Consortium’s higher bid, and by purportedly taking certain measures to favor the transaction with Rithm. The Former EMD Group complaint seeks, among other things, to enjoin the transaction with Rithm until the Consortium has been permitted to bid on the Company without any restrictions from its standstill and a court order (i) reducing the termination fee in connection with the Transactions, (ii) prohibiting Rithm from voting newly acquired shares in a stockholder vote on the Transactions and (iii) declaring that the Majority of Unaffiliated Vote Condition be reinserted into the merger agreement with Rithm should the transaction proceed.
On October 20, 2023, the parties in the Beauchemin Action and the Former EMD Group Action jointly filed a proposed stipulation coordinating and consolidating the two proceedings in connection with discovery and a preliminary injunction hearing on November 9, 2023. The Court ordered the stipulation coordinating and consolidating the two proceedings on October 23, 2023. The Company anticipates discovery to take place on the motion for a preliminary injunction through approximately November 3, 2023.
The Company, Board and Special Committee deny any alleged wrongdoing, and intend to oppose any request for a preliminary or permanent injunction.
The Company has also received four books and records demands pursuant to 8 Del. C. § 220 (the “Section 220 Demands”), including one submitted by the Former EMD Group, seeking, among other things, meeting minutes concerning the Mergers or any strategic alternatives, all materials considered by the Board and Special Committee in connection with its consideration of the Mergers or any strategic alternatives, and communications from the Board, the Special Committee, and the Company’s management related to the same. The Company received the fourth Section 220 Demand on October 9, 2023. The Company has sent a letter objecting to three each of the four Section 220 Demands. The Company has commenced production in response to three of the demands, and will produce additional records in response to the Section 220 Demands as deemed appropriate. The Company has entered into an NDA with three of the Section 220 shareholders, which governs the treatment of all materials produced in