Q. So...how many shares of B of A did we have when the news of the Merrill losses broke? A. More than 8 million!
From John Curry, September 28, 2009
When news of the Merrill losses broke, Bank of America shareholders lost more than $25 billion in market value. The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System held more than 10 million Bank of America shares when the merger was announced. The State Teachers Retirement of Ohio held more than 8 million shares.
Cordray said Ohio pension fund losses were in the “hundreds of millions,” ensuring its status as part of the lead plaintiff group. That involvement gives his office an ability to drive the litigation.
Cordray takes aim at Bank of America
September 28, 2009
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Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said he will push for monetary damages and changes in corporate governance in connection with a shareholder lawsuit involving Bank of America Corp.’s 2008 acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
Ohio is part of a lead plaintiff group that includes five pension funds in Ohio, Texas, Sweden and the Netherlands. The group filed an amended complaint in U.S. District Court in New York late Friday, claiming Bank of America and Merrill Lynch executives concealed massive losses prior to the merger and hid from shareholders a plan to pay up to $5.8 billion in bonuses for Merrill Lynch employees.
Spokesman Ted Hart said other members of the class have filed complaints in the case, but Friday's action represents the first complaint from the lead plaintiff group since it attained that status.
When news of the Merrill losses broke, Bank of America shareholders lost more than $25 billion in market value. The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System held more than 10 million Bank of America shares when the merger was announced. The State Teachers Retirement of Ohio held more than 8 million shares.
Cordray said Ohio pension fund losses were in the “hundreds of millions,” ensuring its status as part of the lead plaintiff group. That involvement gives his office an ability to drive the litigation.
“You can control the direction and pace of the lawsuit,” he said in a conference call Monday. “You have control over settlement discussions. We want to look as carefully as we can to figure out what changes in corporate structures might prevent these kinds of problems in the future.”
The complaint alleges that Bank of America agreed to let Merrill Lynch pay billions in year-end bonuses without disclosing that information to shareholders. And in the two months prior to a shareholder vote on the merger, executives from both companies were aware of “massive and highly material losses” that they also failed to disclose.
“They were concealing billions of dollars in losses with one hand and clearing the way for extravagant bonus payments with the other,” Cordray said in a statement. “This case gives the public pension funds and other shareholders a chance to stand up against Wall Street.”
posted by Kathie Bracy at 3:44 PM
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