Corporate & Securities Law

PwC?s 2007 Study, with a foreign flavour

By Werner R. Kranenburg

One of the main themes of PricewaterhouseCooper’s 2007 Securities litigation study is in relation to foreign issues, involving both issuers and purchasers. In her introductory observation (page 1 of 77, all pages ‘of 77′), Grace Lamont, Partner and Leader of the Securities Litigation Practice, states among other things that ‘[w]ith the European Union and individual countries seemingly poised to consider collective litigation alternatives [to US class action litigation], 2008 could prove just as transformative in the foreign markets’.

Skip to the chapter ‘What a difference a year makes’ (p. 56) and the article ‘Global class actions’ (p. 70, contributed by Allen & Overy LLP) for the analysis. (Also see the Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP contribution, p. 45)

In short, the number of actions against foreign issuers is well up, to 27 from 14 in 2006. Of the 27, ten are European which is higher than the 2000 - 2006 average of 7. Settlement values too are up. The average settlement amount of the fifteen settlements was US$253.3 million (2006: US$149 million) or US$26.6 million (US$11.7 million) excluding outlier settlements. The Royal Dutch Shell Plc settlement (WV&Z archive) was not taken into account in these figures as that is a European settlement. (For the NAPF paper referred to on p. 66, see this previous post.)

For last year’s study, see this previous post and for more commentary on this year’s, see the D&O Diary and The 10b-5 Daily.

Full post as published by With Vigour and Zeal on April 17, 2008 (boomark / email).