Dole CEO David Murdock could be facing trial over the 2013 privatisation of the Westlake Village-based multinational following a decision by a Delaware Chancery Court judge not to throw out a case brought by investors who claim to have discovered irregularities in the way the deal was negotiated.
Judge Travis Laster refused to dismiss the case after Murdock, members of the board of directors and Deutsche Bank, which helped structure the deal, sought to have it thrown out. The trial has been set for 23 February.
Laster said investors raised legitimate questions and the deal required further scrutiny. Investors claim to have found evidence raising doubts about whether Dole directors “were sufficiently independent from Murdock to bargain with him at arm’s length”, Laster wrote. “Murdock had previously threatened and taken punitive action against directors who did not accede to his wishes.”
Laster noted that neither Murdock or Deutsche Bank needed to have acted with an intent to harm Dole’s stockholders, as “self-interested conduct is sufficient”.
