Air Products, Airgas Take Battle to Courts - 2/8/2010
Less than 24 hours after Air Products and Chemicals announced an unsolicited $5.1B takeover offer for its smaller rival, Airgas, the lawsuits began flying.
The 2 companies took to two different court venues to press different versions of a conflict-of-interest argument. In a lawsuit filed in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, Air Products accused the founder and chief executive of Airgas, Peter McCausland, of improperly blocking his board from considering previous takeover offers in an effort to entrench himself atop the company.
Airgas responded in unusual fashion: it sued the principal deal counsel for Air Products, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, in Pennsylvania state court. The Airgas lawsuit charges the blue-chip firm with a conflict of interest and breaching confidentiality agreements by signing on with Air Products in its takeover bid, after having advised Airgas on dozens of financings.
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