Discovery Global Opportunity Master Fund, Ltd. v. Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.

CourtSuperior Court of Delaware
DecidedFebruary 7, 2025
Docket2024-0655 EMD
StatusPublished

This text of Discovery Global Opportunity Master Fund, Ltd. v. Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (Discovery Global Opportunity Master Fund, Ltd. v. Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Discovery Global Opportunity Master Fund, Ltd. v. Hertz Global Holdings, Inc., (Del. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE CHANCERY COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

DISCOVERY GLOBAL OPPORTUNITY ) MASTER FUND, LTD., and DISCOVERY ) GLOBAL BEACON PARTNERS, LP, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) v. ) ) C.A. No. 2024-0655-EMD HERTZ GLOBAL HOLDINGS, INC., ) ) Defendant. ) )

Submitted: November 12, 2024 Decided: February 7, 2025

Upon Defendant Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.’s Motion to Dismiss GRANTED

Samuel T. Hirzel, II, Esquire, Brendan Patrick McDonnell, Esquire, Heyman Enerio Gattuso & Hirzel LLP, Wilmington, Delaware, Daniel A. Fliman, Esquire, Ryan Montefusco, Esquire, Isaac S. Sasson, Esquire, John F. Iaffaldano, Esquire, Paul Hastings LLP, New York, New York. Attorneys for Plaintiffs Discovery Global Opportunity Master Find, Ltd. and Discovery Global Beacon partners, LP.

Blake Rohrbacher, Esquire, Kevin M. Kidwell, Esquire, Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware, Andrew Ditchfield, Esquire, Alison B. Miller, Esquire, Kyra M. Kaufman, Esquire, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, New York, New York. Attorneys for Defendant Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.

DAVIS, J.

I. INTRODUCTION

This is a breach of contract action. 1 Plaintiffs Discovery Global Opportunity Master

Fund, Ltd. and Discovery Global Beacon Partners, LP (collectively, “Discovery”) bring claims

against Defendant Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (“Hertz”) arising out of a warrant agreement (the

1 The Court of Chancery assigned the action to this Court on November 6, 2023, pursuant to the February 23, 2023 Cross-Designation Order under 8 Del. C. § 111. See Cross-Designation Letter and Order (D.I. No. 5). “Warrant Agreement”). Discovery initiated this lawsuit by filing a verified complaint (the

“Complaint”) on June 14, 2024. 2 In the Complaint, Discovery alleges that Hertz engaged in a

series of transactions that amount to a “Reorganization Event” as that term is defined in the

Warrant Agreement. As a result, Discovery contends they are entitled to declaratory relief

(Count I), monetary damages (Count II), and specific performance (Count III) for Hertz’s failure

to honor the Warrant Agreement.

Hertz filed Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Verified Complaint (the “Motion”)

on June 17, 2024. 3 Through the Motion, Hertz requests this Court to dismiss the Complaint in its

entirety and find that no Reorganization Event has occurred in the transactions Discovery alleges

in its Complaint.4 Discovery opposes Hertz’s Motion and filed Plaintiffs’ Answering Brief in

Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (the “Opposition”) 5 on August 30, 2024. The

Court held a hearing on the Motion on November 12, 2024. 6 At the conclusion of the hearing,

the Court took the Motion under advisement.

For the reasons stated below, the Court GRANTS the Motion.

II. RELEVANT FACTS 7

A. THE PARTIES

Discovery Global Opportunity Master Fund, Ltd. is a company organized under the laws

of the Cayman Islands. 8 Discovery Global Beacon Partners, LP is a limited partnership

2 Verified Complaint (D.I. No. 1) (“Compl.”). 3 Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss Pls.’ Verified Complaint (D.I. No. 2) (“MTD”). 4 Id. 5 Pls.’ Ans. Br. in Opp. to Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss (D.I. No. 12) (“Opp. Br.”). 6 D.I. No. 19. 7 The following facts are derived from the well-pled allegations in the Complaint (D.I. No. 1). These allegations are presumed to be true solely for purposes of this opinion. 8 Compl. ¶ 6.

2 organized under the laws of the State of Delaware. 9 Hertz is a corporation organized under the

laws of the State of Delaware. 10

B. THE WARRANT AGREEMENT

On May 22, 2020, as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hertz filed a

voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S.

Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”). 11 On June 10, 2021,

the Bankruptcy Court confirmed Hertz’s plan of reorganization (the “Plan”). 12 Hertz officially

emerged from bankruptcy on June 30, 2021. 13 Pursuant to the Plan, Hertz and Computershare

Trust Company, N.A. (as warrant agent) entered into the Warrant Agreement. 14 Each warrant

entitles the holder, upon the proper exercise and payment of the applicable exercise price, to

receive from Hertz one share of common stock at a price of $13.80 per share. 15 There are

currently 82,710,029 Warrants outstanding. 16 Discovery beneficially holds 9,161,086 Warrants,

accounting for approximately 11% of the outstanding Warrants. 17 The Warrants have a 30-year

term that expires on June 30, 2051. 18

The Warrant Agreement provides for certain circumstances under which Hertz must

redeem the Warrants prior to the 30-year term. Section 12(g)(1) includes the definition of a

Reorganization Event as:

(g) Recapitalizations, Reclassifications and Other Changes.

(i) If any of the following events occur:

9 Compl. ¶ 7. 10 Id. ¶ 8. 11 Id. ¶ 14. 12 Id. 13 Id. ¶ 15. 14 Compl. Ex. A (“Warrant Agreement”). 15 Compl. ¶ 20. 16 Id. ¶ 17–18. 17 Id. 18 Warrant Agreement § 7.

3 (A) Any recapitalization;

(B) Any reclassification or change of the outstanding shares of Common Stock (other than changes resulting from a subdivision or combination to which Section 12(a) applies);

(C) Any consolidation, merger or combination involving [Hertz];

(D) Any sale or conveyance to a third party of all or substantially all of [Hertz’s] assets; or

(E) Any statutory share exchange,

(each such event a “Reorganization Event”), in each case as a result of which the Common Stock would be converted into, or exchanged for, stock, other securities, other property or assets (including Cash or any combination thereof) (the “Reference Property”), then following the effective time of the transaction, the right to receive shares of Common Stock upon exercise of a Warrant shall be changed to a right to receive, upon exercise of such Warrant, the kind and amount of shares of stock, other securities or other property or assets (including Cash or any combination thereof) that a holder of one share of Common Stock would have owned or been entitled to receive in connection with such Reorganization Event (such kind and amount of Reference Property per share of Common Stock, a “ Unit of Reference Property”)[.] 19

The Warrant Agreement does not define “recapitalization.” 20 Section 12(g)(v) goes on to provide

that the Warrants must be redeemed within five days of the consummation of a Change of

Control Event:

“Change of Control Event” means any (1) the acquisition by a Person (other than [Hertz] or a wholly-owned subsidiary of [Hertz]) in a tender offer or a series of related tender offers of more than 50% of the outstanding Common Stock (determined on a fully-diluted basis), (2) merger, consolidation, amalgamation, statutory share exchange, business combination or other similar transaction or series of related transactions to which [Hertz] is a party, (3) sale, lease, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of the assets of [Hertz] and its Subsidiaries, including in connection with a liquidation or winding up of the Company, or (4) Reorganization Event, which, in each of the cases of clauses (1) through (4), is

19 Warrant Agreement § 12(g)(i). 20 Compl. ¶ 24.

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Discovery Global Opportunity Master Fund, Ltd. v. Hertz Global Holdings, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/discovery-global-opportunity-master-fund-ltd-v-hertz-global-holdings-delsuperct-2025.