Any day now, David Murdock, the 92-year-old owner of Dole Food Co, will find out whether his decision to go to trial to defend the terms of his 2013 buyout of the company was heroic or foolish.
It was certainly unusual, and could lead to one of the biggest judgements ever in Delaware's Court of Chancery, a leading venue for corporate disputes.
Dole faces two kinds of legal actions that have been combined because they both allege the buyout price was too low. A small group of hedge funds have brought a so-called appraisal action, which is being tried alongside a shareholder class action lawsuit.
While appraisal actions sometimes go all the way to trial, shareholder class actions almost never do, usually ending with quick settlements.
Increasingly, companies see the lawsuits simply as part of the cost of corporate dealmaking.
In the Dole case, investors are seeking to nearly double the $13.50 a share Murdock paid for the company, one of the world's largest producers of fresh fruit and vegetables. If they prevail, Dole and Murdock could have to put up as much as $1 billion -- on top of the $1.2 billion already spent on the buyout. That possibility has prompted Moody's to warn that it could cut Dole's already junk credit rating, just as the company needs cash to pay for new ships and investments in plantations.
