McEvoy v. Apollo Global Management, LLC

District Court, M.D. Florida·Decided June 29, 2021·No. 3:17-cv-00891·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA JACKSONVILLE DIVISION

MICHAEL MCEVOY, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 3:17-cv-891-TJC-MCR

APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, APOLLO MANAGEMENT VI, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership, and CEVA GROUP, PLC,

Defendants.

ORDER This putative class action is before the Court on Defendants Apollo Global Management, Inc. (f/k/a Apollo Global Management, LLC), Apollo Management VI, L.P. (collectively, “Apollo”), and CEVA Group PLC’s (“CEVA Group”) Motion for Summary Judgment. Doc. 95. Plaintiff Michael McEvoy filed a response. Docs. 112, 116. The Court previously converted Defendants’ motions to dismiss to a motion for summary judgment and ordered limited discovery on the issue of the statute of limitations only. Doc 80. I. BACKGROUND A. The Formation of CEVA Logistics and CEVA Investments Limited Plaintiff Michael McEvoy began working Ryder Truck Lines in 1972. Doc. 96-1 at 17:15–18:9. He soon transitioned to a company called Customized Transportation, which was acquired by CSX, which in turn was sold to TNT

Logistics, which Apollo purchased and merged with EGL, Inc. to form CEVA Logistics in 2006. Id. at 18:7–19:4. CEVA Logistics is a subsidiary of CEVA Group, a global freight management and supply chain logistics company. 97 at 1–2. CEVA Group itself was 99.9 percent owned by CEVA Investments Limited

(“CIL”), a Cayman Islands corporation, until 2013. Doc. 97 at 2. Apollo “held the vast majority of CIL’s preferred and common shares.” Id. at 3. Upon CEVA Logistics’ formation, management-level employees from TNT and EGL, including McEvoy (“Management Investors”), were asked to purchase

equity in the Cayman Islands company that became CIL. Doc. 96-1 at 30:18– 20. They did so through a fund called the 2006 Long-Term Incentive Plan (“2006 LTIP”). Id. at 23:2–6. The investment was to “increase [directors and employees’] personal interest in [CIL’s] growth and success . . . .” Doc. 96-2 at

3. McEvoy invested approximately €10,000 in the 2006 LTIP. Doc. 96-1 at 23:6. He received and reviewed the 2006 LTIP Agreement when he invested. Id. at 28:22–29:6. B. CIL’s 2013 Restructuring According to Marvin Schlanger, the Chief Executive Officer of CEVA

Group from 2012 to 2014, due to financial problems in “mid-2012 into 2013,” “CEVA Group’s management determined that CEVA’s only choice for survival was a financial restructuring.” Doc. 97 at 2. In April 2013, CEVA Group performed a “major debt-for-equity exchange” (“2013 Transaction”). Id. CEVA

Group converted much of CIL’s debt into equity ownership of a new entity called CEVA Holdings, LLC (“CEVA Holdings”), diluting CIL’s ownership of CEVA Group. Id. The transaction led to the de-valuation of CIL’s ownership of CEVA Group from 99.9 percent to .01 percent, effectively wiping out all previous

investment in CIL, including the 2006 LTIP shares’ value. Id. On April 2, 2013, CIL entered provisional liquidation proceedings in the Cayman Islands. Doc. 98 at 1. According to Schlanger’s declaration, “[n]o CIL shareholder, including [Apollo]. . . recovered anything on account of their investment in CIL in the 2013

Restructuring or thereafter,” and a “collateral but inevitable consequence of the 2013 Transaction was the dissolution” of the 2006 LTIP. Doc. 97 at 2–3. Three holders of CIL’s unsecured debt filed an uncontested involuntary Chapter 7 petition against CIL in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the

Southern District of New York on April 22, 2013, which the Bankruptcy Court granted, appointing a Chapter 7 Trustee (“Trustee”). In re CIL Ltd., 582 B.R. 46 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2018), amended on reconsideration, No. 13-11272-JLG, 2018 WL 3031094 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. June 15, 2018) (“Bankruptcy Proceeding”). On December 8, 2014, the Trustee filed a complaint in the Bankruptcy

Proceeding against CIL directors Gareth Turner and Mark Beith, CEVA Group, and CEVA Holdings, alleging that Apollo orchestrated a fraudulent transfer of CIL’s interest in CEVA Group to CEVA Holdings without consideration. Doc. 96-12. The complaint alleged that “Apollo engineered, directed and caused a

secretive transaction that divested CIL of CEVA Group, its primary asset, for no consideration, while leaving behind CIL’s liabilities and rendering CIL insolvent.” Id. at 4. Creditors have also filed direct claims against CEVA Logistics AG in New York Supreme Court in 2019, an action that, as of this

Court’s last update, has been stayed. Doc. 121 at 1, 2. C. CIL’s Communications to McEvoy In December 2012, CEVA Logistics informed McEvoy that due to general cutbacks, he would be laid off in March 2013. Doc. 96-1 at 24:14–18. He

exercised his put rights to sell his 2006 LTIP shares at their present value on January 21, 2013, and was informed the following day that they could be purchased back on April 1, 2013, and that their most recent value was approximately €50 per share. Doc. 112-35 at 5–6. His last day at CEVA was

March 31, 2013. Id. at 7. CEVA Logistics temporarily re-hired him as an independent contractor from October through December 2013 to help start a new logistics contract. Doc. 96-1 at 136:20–37:16; 137:23–25. CIL informed McEvoy of the 2006 LTIP dissolution and CIL’s lack of value via registered letter dated April 5, 2013, stating that “[t]he directors of

[CIL] have received advice from valuation and restructuring professionals that [CIL’s] shareholding in CEVA is now without value, in consequence of the financial condition of CEVA. You may have seen, or shortly will see, press announcements concerning the proposed restructuring of CEVA.” Doc. 96-3 at

2. The letter further stated that “[i]n light of [CIL’s] and CEVA’s financial condition, we have been advised that it is unlikely that there will be any recoveries for shareholders of [CIL] in their capacities as shareholders.” Id. at 3. CIL sent another letter announcing the appointment of Joint Provisional

Liquidators (“JPLs”) as part of the Cayman Islands liquidation proceedings on April 8, 2013. Doc. 98-1. On April 17, 2013, the JPLs sent a letter to twenty to thirty Management Investors who had contacted the JPLs with questions. Doc. 112-29 at 125. The document has a question and answer section on CIL’s

condition and the 2006 LTIP, confirming to Management Investors that the company had no value, and that “no alternative investment is being offered to the [s]hareholders, nor is there any exchange offer being offered to the [s]hareholders.” Doc. 98-2 at 4. The letter explained that the liquidation was

performed “pursuant to the irrevocable proxy and power of attorney granted to Apollo Management VI, L.P.” in the 2006 LTIP Agreement. Id. at 3. Schlanger instructed the attorneys drafting the letter to exclude “reference to any new equity plans . . . [because the] letter [would be] going to a lot of people who no longer are with the Company and have nothing to do with any new plans.” Doc.

97-7 at 3. This was, he explained in his declaration to the Court, to avoid creating an “impression that those former employees were eligible to participate in the 2013 CEVA Holdings LTIP” (discussed below). Doc. 97 at 6. While McEvoy does not recall reading the question and answer document, he received

an email with an identically named attachment. Doc. 96-1 at 88:23–90:1. The JPLs sent another letter on June 14, 2013 informing Management Investors that CIL was insolvent, listing the names of the Management Investors who had been represented as part of the bankruptcy proceedings, and

stating that there was an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding taking place against CIL in the Southern District of New York. Docs. 98-3; 112-39.

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