Thursday, December 21, 2006

Philadelphia Stock Exchange Sale Challenged

According to a press release issued last week, Chancellor William B. Chandler III of the Delaware Court of Chancery has denied the defendants' motions to dismiss in a class action brought on behalf of shareholders of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange to challenge a proposed sale of 90% of the equity of the stock exchange from the Class A shareholders to a group of Wall Street firms and members of the Exchange's Board of Governors.

A copy of Chancellor Chandler's opinion is available here and a copy of the class action complaint can be found here.

The Wall Street firms named in the complaint are UBS Securities, LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc., Citigroup Financial Products, Inc., Credit Suisse First Boston, Citadel Derivatives Group, LLC, and Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith.

Berger & Montague, P.C. and Rosenthal, Monhait & Goddess, P.A. are counsel for the plaintiff.

Daily Trivia: The Philadelphia Stock Exchange was the first securities exchange in the United States. The exchange was officially established in 1790, and initially mainly government obligations were traded. Among the securities listed in the early days of the Exchange were shares of The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Company, the first turnpike in the United States. The route that formed the turnpike is now known as Route 30, or Lancaster Avenue.

No comments: