GREENSBORO, NC - More complications have arisen in response to Apollo Global’s $1.36 billion acquisition of The Fresh Market retail chain. In addition to the investigation into the grocer’s Board of Directors announced last month, a new lawsuit takes aim at Apollo Global, claiming that its purchase “undervalues” The Fresh Market’s business.
Last week, several stockholders of The Fresh Market sued asset manager Apollo Global in a Delaware federal court, according to source Law360. The website alleges that Fresh Market Founder and Chairman, Ray Berry, spoke to Apollo privately without consulting the company’s board. According to the complaint, the company's financial adviser, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, also has a bias favoring Apollo, having done more than $116 million of business together in the past two years.
“The flawed sale process was tainted from the outset due to defendant Ray Berry’s and his son Brett Berry’s prior back channeling with Apollo,” the complaint explained, according to Law360. “Berry and his family, who collectively own approximately 9.8 percent of the outstanding common stock of the company, were able to initiate the current proposed transaction in private conversations with Apollo, unknown to the rest of the company board or management, well before the sale process had even begun.”
As we recently reported, The Fresh Market had announced mid-March its acceptance of Apollo Global’s offer at $28.50 per share for stockholders, coming out to a tender agreement totaling about $1.36 billion.
As explained by Law360, the offer represents a 24 percent premium to The Fresh Market’s stock price on March 11, and a 53 percent premium to the February 10 closing price, the day before press got wind of details surrounding the purchase.
The new lawsuit seeks to stop the companies from closing the proposed deal unless they “disclose material information about the deal.” As of the time of writing this, neither The Fresh Market or Apollo Global have commented on the lawsuit.
As more details on The Fresh Market and Apollo Global are released, AndNowUKnow will continue to update you with the latest.
