Corporate Governance
Wolf Popper provides a range of services which are designed to aid those
shareholders who seek to advocate for improved corporate governance, principally related to U.S.-incorporated companies.
Through our portfolio monitoring services, we alert our clients to particularly
egregious corporate governance abuses/deficiencies such as (i) excessive compensation being paid to a company's management; (ii) self-dealing transactions between a company and its management or directors; (iii) a company's repricing of "underwater" stock options; (iv) a company's adoption of a "dead-hand" poison pill; or (v) where a majority/controlling shareholder
seeks to cash out the public, minority shareholders at a grossly unfair price or in a manner that compromises the process necessary to ensure that the public shareholders are treated fairly. If after being alerted to inappropriate or deficient corporate governance practices, such as those just stated, our clients seek to take action to redress such practices, we can aid them through litigation or other, non-litigation, means.
Should our clients seek to pursue litigation to redress deficient or defective
corporate governance practices, our firm has over 30 years of experience prosecuting federal law,
state law and derivative actions on behalf of our investor clients in these matters. For example,
many state law actions, including derivative actions, arise in the context of a merger or
acquisition. In many cases, investors in the company being merged or acquired are offered
patently unfair and/or inadequate consideration for their shares. Directors and/or management of
the company being merged or acquired often have serious conflicts of interest that prevent them
from maximizing shareholder value in such situations, which is in breach of the fiduciary duties
imposed upon them by state law. Wolf Popper has brought numerous actions on behalf of
investors to ensure they receive the maximum amount of consideration to which they are entitled.
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