SAN JOSE – A Massachusetts stockholder is suing a Santa Clara company alleging that its board knowingly prepared a misleading proxy statement for a proposed merger that would cost stockholders.
Steven Merola filed a class-action lawsuit on March 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division against Frank Witney, Nelson Chan, Gary Guthart, Jami Nachtheim, Riccardo Pigliucci, Merilee Raines, Robert Trice and Affymetrix Inc., citing violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that he sustained damages as a result of an incomplete proxy statement regarding the proposed merger between Affymetrix and Thermo Fisher Scientific. The plaintiff holds the defendants responsible because they allegedly failed to disclose financial analyses conducted by Morgan Stanley and Morgan Stanley's conflicts of interest in the merger. The suit also states that the proposed transaction is designed to advance Thermo Fisher's interest but at the expense of Affymetrix stockholders like the plaintiff.
The plaintiff seeks the following: enjoin the defendants from completing the proposed merger, all legal fees associated with this suit, and any other relief as the court deems just and proper. He is represented by Adam C. McCall of Levi & Korsinksy LLP in Los Angeles and Donald E. Enright of Levi & Korsinksy LLP in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division Case number 4:16-cv-01237-PJH