OPINION

Dear Friends,

This story is getting some legs folks, as more and more news outlets are spreading the word about how Credit Suisse and former Skadden Arps partner Robert Pincus drove up the price of the TransPerfect sale in the Delaware Chancery Court case.

Pincus is looking like a fool and a thief for driving up the price of the sale by $70 million, according to the Bloomberg story below, as it looks as if he paid to put in a shill bid somehow and Credit Suisse earned a commission buying its own shares?!

I’ve been saying this auction was a sham forever. I had spoken with employees, and as I understood it, no one showed up to the bidder meetings. I’ve been saying it was a sham for years because of that. Thank God that Pincus is going to be brought to justice for paying himself $50 million to run a fake auction.

Please send your feedback on this, folks. It’s always welcome and appreciated. It’s criminal and I’d love to hear your thoughts on how this is allowed to happen in Delaware.

Respectfully Yours,
Judson Bennett-Coastal Network

Bloomberg Law Story:

TransPerfect Buyer Alleges Fleecing by Lawyer, Credit Suisse

(Bloomberg Law Subscription)

By Martina Barash (Bloomberg Law) — Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and the attorney who shepherded the sale of translation services company TransPerfect Global Inc. drove up the price by $70 million by falsely citing other offers, according to a suit by the winning bidder—a company controlled by a TPG co-founder

TransPerfect Holdings LLC’s complaint, filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, is the latest salvo against Robert Pincus, a former partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, over his role as the custodian for the court-ordered sale of TransPerfect Global. The translation giant recently lost a challenge in the Delaware Supreme Court to the $3.2 million in fees that Pincus charged

TPH is 99% owned by TransPerfect’s co-founder Philip Shawe, according to the complaint

The forced sale of TransPerfect took place after the breakup of Shawe’s romantic relationship with the company’s other founder, Elizabeth Elting, led to an irreconcilable deadlock, according to the Delaware top court’s ruling

Shawe, through a company called PRS Capital LLC, bought out Elting in a modified auction following novel rulings by the Delaware Chancery Court and state supreme court ordering the company sold and placed under a custodianship based solely on the management deadlock, despite its continued profitability. PRS Capital then became TPH

In its new suit, TPH alleges Pincus bypassed independent advisers’ recommendations and orchestrated the auction, which would be profitable for him and Credit Suisse. The bank served as TransPerfect Global’s exclusive financial adviser

When no one bid higher than Shawe’s pre-auction offer, “Pincus had to act to justify the tremendous cost of the auction and preserve his reputation,” TPH says. “He and Credit Suisse then misrepresented to Plaintiff that there were higher value bids,” forcing it to raise its offer by $70 million, it says

“We believe these allegations are entirely meritless and intend to vigorously defend ourselves,” Credit Suisse said in an emailed statement Thursday

Martin Russo, lead counsel for TPH, said in an emailed statement, “We have confidence in the federal judiciary and encourage you to really focus on the allegations to see how serious the conduct was.”