FMC Corp. v. Boesky

36 F.3d 255
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedSeptember 23, 1994
DocketNos. 945, 1110, Dockets 93-7433, 93-7683
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 36 F.3d 255 (FMC Corp. v. Boesky) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
FMC Corp. v. Boesky, 36 F.3d 255 (2d Cir. 1994).

Opinion

WALKER, Circuit Judge:

When the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil securities fraud charges against Ivan Boesky in 1986, it alerted a throng of disappointed investors to the unscrupulous acts of Boesky and some of Wall Street’s other infamous characters. Since then, big and small investors alike seeking to rectify wrongs suffered at Boesky’s hands have been on a crusade not only against Ivan Boesky himself, but also against those alleged to have facilitated his malfeasance. The instant appeal involves one of the first actions that followed the SEC’s charges against Boesky. What began as a multi-defendant search by FMC Corporation (“FMC”) to find responsible parties has been pared down to a focused attack on Goldman, Sachs & Co. (“Goldman”). FMC seeks to recover fees paid and alleged damages suffered when one Goldman employee prematurely disclosed a proposed FMC recapitalization to Boesky prior to public announcement of the deal and another employee allegedly disclosed confidential information about FMC’s future prospects. Boesky purchased substantial amounts of FMC stock, during which time the trading price rose sharply. In the aftermath of this rise in price, FMC was forced to revise its reorganization plans, and ultimately, to pay an additional $220 million dollars to its public shareholders to consummate the transaction.

BACKGROUND

I. Factual Background

In March 1985, representatives of FMC began meetings with Goldman to discuss the possibility of restructuring FMC to increase the percentage of outstanding common stock held by “insiders,” and to increase FMC’s debt-to-equity ratio in the hopes of making FMC a less attractive takeover target. To advance the discussions, FMC provided Goldman with confidential financial projections and other business information concerning FMC’s future prospects. Both parties understood that the projections as well as the [258]*258fact of the proposed restructuring itself were to be kept in confidence, and that the transaction was to be discussed, even to Goldman personnel, only on a need-to-know basis. The meetings ultimately led to an agreement which promised Goldman, as FMC’s investment banker, a $17.5 million fee upon the deal’s successful completion.

Unbeknownst to Goldman, one of Goldman’s vice-presidents, David S. Brown, informed Boesky about the planned reorganization through a channel of similarly dissolute securities professionals at other investment banks. Brown was not involved in the FMC deal, but was able to figure out that FMC was involved through casual discussions with other Goldman employees about a major Chicago-based company planning to reorganize, and by secretly visiting the “cubicle” office of a Goldman employee working on the deal who had left FMC’s annual report on her desk. Brown knew none of the details but deduced that FMC was the Chicago company contemplating a reorganization. He tipped off Boesky about FMC’s plans approximately three weeks prior to FMC’s public announcement on Friday, February 21, 1986.

Between February 18 and February 21, 1986, Boesky and his affiliated entities purchased about 95,300 shares of FMC stock, or roughly thirteen percent of all FMC shares traded on those days. During the same four-day period, the price of FMC’s stock rose from $71.75 to about $82, at which point, during the morning of February 21, FMC requested the New York Stock Exchange to temporarily suspend trading so the company could announce that it was considering a reorganization. When trading resumed following the announcement, Boesky proceeded to sell off substantially all of his holdings, at a profit of about $975,000. The stock price continued to rise through the afternoon before reaching $85,625 when the market closed.

The $85,625 figure approximated the $85 value Goldman assessed as a fair per share valuation of FMC’s outstanding stock for purposes of the reorganization. Also according to Goldman’s estimate, the market would value each share of new FMC stock (the “stub equity”) at $15 per share. FMC’s 150. management shareholders would therefore exchange each of their outstanding shares for 5.667 shares of the stub equity, for a total value of $85. Public shareholders would exchange each of their shares for one share of the stub equity plus $70 cash, also for a total of $85. FMC’s Thrift Plan would receive for each old share four shares of stub equity and $25 cash. Based on its conclusion that each shareholder group would receive equal value in the transaction, Goldman issued its formal “fairness” opinion. FMC’s board of directors approved the plan on Saturday, February 22, 1986, and the company announced the terms the following day.

On February 24, 1986, Lance Lessman, one of Boesky’s key financial advisors, recommended FMC to Boesky as an attractive investment to realize a substantial short-term profit. Internal Boesky organization memo-randa reveal that Lessman thought Goldman had undervalued the stock at $85 per share, and that $100 per share was a more realistic buyout value for the stock. He viewed the proposed transaction as “blatantly discriminatory,” and felt there were “definitely ways to pump out more value to shareholders.” Lessman advised Boesky that the transaction probably would not be consummated as planned in light of a rising stock market and a suit by FMC’s shareholders challenging the transaction.

FMC charges that Lessman’s recommendation was not based on his own research, but rather on confidential information he received from Frank Brosens, a member of Goldman’s arbitrage division. Brosens spoke to Lessman on instructions from a Goldman official working on the FMC restructuring who asked Brosens to try to stimulate interest in the deal among members of the arbitrage community. Brosens apparently spoke to Lessman on March 12 and March 14,1986, after the terms of the deal were made public, and told Lessman that FMC was a good value at $85 per share. As Judge Pollack found, there is no evidence in the record that Brosens disclosed FMC’s financial projections or other confidential information to Lessman. See FMC Corp. v. Boesky (In re [259]*259Ivan F. Boesky Sec. Litig.), 825 F.Supp. 623, 628 (S.D.N.Y.1993) [hereinafter “FMC”].

In the two weeks following FMC’s February 21 public announcement, FMC stock traded slightly above the $85 per share estimate. On March 3, 1986, nine days before FMC alleges Brosens first disclosed inside information to Lessman, Boesky began buying FMC stock in a month-long spree that lasted until April 4, 1986. This time Boesky purchased nearly two million shares, which accounted for roughly fifty percent of the trading volume in FMC stock during this period. FMC’s stock price climbed from $87.25 on March 12, 1986 to $93.75 on April 4,1986. FMC publicly disclosed its confidential financial projections on April 2, 1986, when it filed its Form S-2 registration in connection with the restructuring.

Because of the increase in the price of FMC stock during this period, Goldman advised FMC that it would have to withdraw its fairness opinion if the terms of the plan were not revised to compensate the public shareholders adequately. To resolve the fairness problem, Goldman suggested increasing the cash distribution to public shareholders from $70 to $80 per share. FMC agreed to increase the cash portion of the package, and the deal therefore cost FMC about $220 million more than it would have under the original proposal.

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Related

FMC Corp. v. Comm'r
2001 T.C. Memo. 298 (U.S. Tax Court, 2001)
In Re Ivan F. Boesky Securities Litigation
36 F.3d 255 (Second Circuit, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
36 F.3d 255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fmc-corp-v-boesky-ca2-1994.