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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE NASHVILLE DIVISION
DAVID PHELPS, Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated,
Plaintiff, v. DELEK US HOLDINGS, INC., DELEK HOLDCO, INC. EZRA UZI YEMIN, WILLIAM J. FINNERTY, CARLOS E. JORDA, CHARLES H. LEONARD, GARY M. SULLIVAN, JR., SHLOMO ZOHAR, and AVI GEFFEN, Defendants.
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Case No. CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT FOR VIOLATIONS OF SECTIONS 14(a) AND 20(a) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
Plaintiff David Phelps (“Plaintiff”), by his undersigned attorneys, alleges upon personal
knowledge with respect to himself, and upon information and belief based upon, inter alia, the
investigation of counsel as to all other allegations herein, as follows:
NATURE OF THE ACTION
1. This action is brought as a class action by Plaintiff on behalf of himself and the
other public holders of the common stock of Delek US Holdings, Inc., (“Delek” or the
“Company”) against the Company and the members of the Company’s board of directors
(collectively, the “Board” or “Individual Defendants,” and, together with Delek, the
“Defendants”) for their violations of Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 (the “Exchange Act”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 78n(a), 78t(a), SEC Rule 14a-9, 17 C.F.R. 240.14a-9,
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and Regulation G, 17 C.F.R. § 244.100, in connection with the proposed merger (the “Proposed
Merger”) between Delek, and Alon USA Energy, Inc. (“Alon”).1
2. On January 2, 2017, the Board caused the Company to enter into an agreement
and plan of merger (“Merger Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company’s shareholders stand
to receive one (1) share of “New Delek common stock” for each issued and outstanding share of
Delek common stock they own (the “Merger Consideration”).
3. On May 30, 2017, in order to convince Delek shareholders to vote in favor of the
Proposed Merger, the Board authorized the filing of a materially incomplete and misleading
Definitive Proxy Statement on a Schedule 14A (the “Proxy”) with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (“SEC”), in violation of Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act.
4. While Defendants are touting the fairness of the Merger Consideration to the
Company’s shareholders in the Proxy, they have failed to disclose certain material information
that is necessary for shareholders to properly assess the fairness of the Proposed Merger, thereby
rendering certain statements in the Proxy incomplete and misleading.
5. In particular, the Proxy contains materially incomplete and misleading
information concerning: (i) financial projections for the Company, and (ii) the valuation analyses
performed by the Company’s financial advisor, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc.
(“Tudor”), in support of their respective fairness opinions.
1 Under the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the merger agreement, Dione Mergeco, Inc. (“Delek Merger Sub”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Delek Holdco, Inc. (“HoldCo”) which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delek, will merge with and into Delek (the “Delek Merger”), with Delek surviving as a wholly owned subsidiary of HoldCo, a new holding company formed by Delek, and Astro Mergeco, Inc. will merge with and into Alon (the “Alon Merger”), with Alon surviving (collectively, the “Mergers”). After the distribution of stock, and the closing of the Mergers, HoldCo will be the publicly traded parent company of Delek and Alon, and will be named “Delek US Holdings, Inc.”
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6. The special meeting of Delek shareholders to vote on the Proposed Merger is
scheduled for June 29, 2017. It is imperative that the material information that has been omitted
from the Proxy is disclosed to the Company’s shareholders prior to the forthcoming shareholder
vote, so that they can properly exercise their corporate suffrage rights.
7. For these reasons, and as set forth in detail herein, Plaintiff asserts claims against
Defendants for violations of Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act, and Rule 14a-9 and
Regulation G, 17 C.F.R. § 244.100. Plaintiff seeks to enjoin Defendants from holding the
shareholder vote on the Proposed Merger and taking any steps to consummate the Proposed
Merger unless and until the material information discussed below is disclosed to Delek
shareholders sufficiently in advance of the vote on the Proposed Merger or, in the event the
Proposed Merger is consummated, to recover damages resulting from the Defendants’ violations
of the Exchange Act.
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
8. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Section 27 of the Exchange
Act (15 U.S.C. § 78aa) and 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question jurisdiction) as Plaintiff alleges
violations of Section 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act.
9. Personal jurisdiction exists over each Defendant either because the Defendant
conducts business in or maintains operations in this District, or is an individual who is either
present in this District for jurisdictional purposes or has sufficient minimum contacts with this
District as to render the exercise of jurisdiction over Defendant by this Court permissible under
traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.
10. Venue is proper in this District under Section 27 of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C.
§ 78aa, as well as under 28 U.S.C. § 1391, because: (i) the conduct at issue took place and had an
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effect in this District; (ii) Delek maintains its primary place of business in this District; (iii) a
substantial portion of the transactions and wrongs complained of herein, including Defendants’
primary participation in the wrongful acts detailed herein, occurred in this District; and (iv)
Defendants have received substantial compensation in this District by doing business here and
engaging in numerous activities that had an effect in this District.
PARTIES
11. Plaintiff is, and at all relevant times has been, an Delek shareholder.
12. Defendant Delek is incorporated in Delaware and maintains its principal
executive offices at 7102 Commerce Way, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. The Company is an
integrated downstream energy business focused on petroleum refining and the transportation,
storage and wholesale of crude oil, intermediate and refined products.
13. Defendant Delek Holdco Inc. (“Holdco”) is a Delaware corporation and currently
a wholly owned subsidiary of Delek. As set forth in the merger agreement, Holdco will become
the ultimate parent after the merger is consummated.
14. Individual Defendant Ezra Uzi Yemin (“Yemin”) has served as a President, Chief
Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Delek since 2012.
15. Individual Defendant William J. Finnerty (“Finnerty”) has served as a director of
Delek since April 2014.
16. Individual Defendant Carlos E. Jorda (“Jorda”) has served as a director of Delek
since May 2006.
17. Individual Defendant Charles H. Leonard (“Leonard”) has served as a director of
Delek since May 2006.
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18. Individual Defendant Gary M. Sullivan, Jr. (“Crockett”) has served as a director
of Delek since August 2015.
19. Individual Defendant Shlomo Zohar (“Davis”) has served as a director of Delek
since May 2010.
20. Individual Defendant Avi Geffen (“Geffen”) became a director in May 2017.
CLASS ACTION ALLEGATIONS
21. Plaintiff brings this class action pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 on behalf of
himself and the other public shareholders of Delek (the “Class”). Excluded from the Class are
Defendants herein and any person, firm, trust, corporation, or other entity related to or affiliated
with any Defendant.
22. This action is properly maintainable as a class action because:
a. The Class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable. As
of January 2, 2017, there were approximately 62,032,476 shares of Delek common stock
outstanding, held by hundreds to thousands of individuals and entities scattered
throughout the country. The actual number of public shareholders of Delek will be
ascertained through discovery;
b. There are questions of law and fact that are common to the Class that
predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, including the
following:
i) whether Defendants have misrepresented or omitted material
information concerning the Proposed Merger in the Proxy in
violation of Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act;
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ii) whether the Individual Defendants have violated Section 20(a) of
the Exchange Act; and
iii) whether Plaintiff and other members of the Class will suffer
irreparable harm if compelled to vote their shares regarding the
Proposed Merger based on the materially incomplete and
misleading Proxy.
c. Plaintiff is an adequate representative of the Class, has retained competent
counsel experienced in litigation of this nature, and will fairly and adequately protect the
interests of the Class;
d. Plaintiff’s claims are typical of the claims of the other members of the
Class and Plaintiff does not have any interests adverse to the Class;
e. The prosecution of separate actions by individual members of the Class
would create a risk of inconsistent or varying adjudications with respect to individual
members of the Class, which would establish incompatible standards of conduct for the
party opposing the Class;
f. Defendants have acted on grounds generally applicable to the Class with
respect to the matters complained of herein, thereby making appropriate the relief sought
herein with respect to the Class as a whole; and
g. A class action is superior to other available methods for fairly and
efficiently adjudicating the controversy.
SUBSTANTIVE ALLEGATIONS
I. The Proposed Transaction
23. On January 3, 2017, Delek and Alon issued a press release announcing the
Proposed Transaction, which states in pertinent part:
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BRENTWOOD, Tenn. and Dallas, Texas—January 3, 2017 -- Delek US
Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DK) (“Delek US”) and Alon USA Energy, Inc. (NYSE:
ALJ) (“Alon”) today announced a definitive agreement under which Delek US
will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Alon common stock which Delek US
does not already own in an all-stock transaction. Based on a closing price of
$24.07 per share for Delek US common stock on Friday, December 30, 2016, the
implied price for Alon common stock is $12.13 per share, or $464 million in
equity value for the remaining shares. The enterprise value of this transaction to
acquire the remaining 53 percent of Alon shares of common stock not already
owned by Delek US is approximately $675 million including the proportionate
assumption of $152 million of net debt related to this transaction and $59 million
of market value for the non-controlling interest in Alon USA Partners, LP
(NYSE: ALDW). This transaction was unanimously approved by the Special
Committee of Alon’s board of directors and by the board of directors of Delek
US. Additionally, the board of directors of Alon approved the transaction,
excluding Delek employed directors which abstained from voting on this matter.
The combination will create a company with a strong financial position and
significant access to the Permian Basin.
Delek US currently owns approximately 33.7 million shares of common stock of
Alon. Under terms of the agreement, the owners of the remaining outstanding
shares in Alon that Delek US does not currently own will receive a fixed
exchange ratio of 0.5040 Delek US shares for each share of Alon. This represents
a 5.6 percent premium to the 20 trading day volume weighted average ratio
through and including December 30, 2016, of 0.477. Upon closing, the combined
company will be primarily led by Delek US’ management team. In conjunction
with the Merger Agreement, the Special Committee of Alon’s board of directors
will nominate one new director that will be appointed to the Delek US board, and
one new director that will be added to the board of Delek Logistics Partners LP’s
(NYSE: DKL) (“Delek Logistics”) general partner. Concurrently with the
execution of the Merger Agreement, Delek US entered into three separate voting
agreements with Alon USA, David Wiessman and Jeff Morris, pursuant to which
each of Delek US, Mr. Wiessman and Mr. Morris have agreed to, among other
things, vote their shares of Alon in favor of this transaction.
Uzi Yemin, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Delek US stated,
“We are excited to reach this agreement and believe this strategic combination
will result in a larger, more diverse company that is well positioned to take
advantage of opportunities in the market and better navigate the cyclical nature of
our business. We expect to be able to achieve meaningful synergies across the
organization and the combination will create a refining system that will be one of
the largest buyers of crude from the Permian Basin among the independent
refiners. Additionally, we expect the combined company will have the ability to
unlock logistics value from Alon’s assets through future potential drop downs to
Delek Logistics Partners and create a platform for future logistics projects to
support a larger refining system. The combination of an all equity transaction,
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which will enable both Alon’s and Delek US’ shareholders to participate in future
performance of the company, and Delek US’ strong financial position should
provide the combined company financial flexibility as it moves forward with
initiatives to invest in the business to create value for the shareholders. I would
like to thank the employees of Delek US and Alon for their hard work on the
transaction and the members of Alon’s Special Committee for their cooperation
during this process.”
“We are excited to be joining Delek US and believe this agreement represents an
excellent opportunity for Alon’s shareholders,” said David Wiessman, Chairman
of Alon’s Special Committee. “The economies of scale, financial strength, and
synergies generated through this merger create the opportunity to drive long-term
value for shareholders and the all-stock transaction allows all shareholders to
participate in the future performance of the combined company. I would like to
thank Alon’s employees for their efforts, and our customers, suppliers and banks
that supported our company, as we worked together to create value for our
shareholders.”
The combined company will have a broad platform consisting of refining,
logistics, retail, wholesale marketing, as well as renewables and asphalt
operations. The refining system will have approximately 300,000 barrels per day
of crude throughput capacity consisting of four locations and an integrated retail
platform that includes 307 locations serving central and west Texas and New
Mexico. Logistics operations include Delek Logistics which can benefit from
future drop downs and organic projects to support a larger refining system. This
combination will create a larger marketing operation with 600,000 barrels per
month of space on the Colonial Pipeline System and a wholesale business with
over 1.2 billion gallons of sales volume annually in the southwest.
II. The Materially Incomplete and Misleading Proxy
24. On May 30, 2017, Defendants caused the Proxy to be filed with the SEC in
connection with the Proposed Merger. The Proxy solicits the Company’s shareholders to vote in
favor of the Proposed Merger. Defendants were obligated to carefully review the Proxy before it
was filed with the SEC and disseminated to the Company’s shareholders to ensure that it did not
contain any material misrepresentations or omissions. However, the Proxy misrepresents and/or
omits material information that is necessary for the Company’s shareholders to make an
informed decision concerning whether to vote in favor of the Proposed Merger, in violation of
Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act.
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25. First, the Proxy fails to provide material information concerning the Company’s
and Delek’s financial projections. Specifically, the Proxy provides non-GAAP (generally
accepted accounting principles) projections, leverage free cash flow (see below), but fails to
provide line item projections for the metrics used to calculate these non-GAAP measures or
otherwise reconcile the non-GAAP projections to the most comparable GAAP measures.
26. When a company discloses non-GAAP financial measures in a Proxy, the
Company must also disclose all projections and information necessary to make the non-GAAP
measures not misleading, and must provide a reconciliation (by schedule or other clearly
understandable method) of the differences between the non-GAAP financial measure disclosed
or released with the most comparable financial measure or measures calculated and presented in
accordance with GAAP. 17 C.F.R. § 244.100.
27. Indeed, the SEC has recently increased its scrutiny of the use of non-GAAP
financial measures in communications with shareholders. The former SEC Chairwoman, Mary
Jo White, recently stated that the frequent use by publicly traded companies of unique company-
specific non-GAAP financial measures (as Delek and Alon included in the Proxy here),
implicates the centerpiece of the SEC’s disclosures regime:
In too many cases, the non-GAAP information, which is meant to supplement the
GAAP information, has become the key message to investors, crowding out and
effectively supplanting the GAAP presentation. Jim Schnurr, our Chief
Accountant, Mark Kronforst, our Chief Accountant in the Division of Corporation
Finance and I, along with other members of the staff, have spoken out frequently
about our concerns to raise the awareness of boards, management and investors.
And last month, the staff issued guidance addressing a number of troublesome
practices which can make non-GAAP disclosures misleading: the lack of equal or
greater prominence for GAAP measures; exclusion of normal, recurring cash
operating expenses; individually tailored non-GAAP revenues; lack of
consistency; cherry-picking; and the use of cash per share data. I strongly urge
companies to carefully consider this guidance and revisit their approach to non-
GAAP disclosures. I also urge again, as I did last December, that appropriate
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controls be considered and that audit committees carefully oversee their
company’s use of non-GAAP measures and disclosures.2
28. Last year, the SEC has repeatedly emphasized that disclosure of non-GAAP
projections can be inherently misleading, and has therefore heightened its scrutiny of the use of
such projections.3 Indeed, on May 17, 2016, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance released
new and updated Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (“C&DIs”) on the use of non-
GAAP financial measures that demonstrate the SEC’s tightening policy.4 One of the new
C&DIs regarding forward-looking information, such as financial projections, explicitly requires
companies to provide any reconciling metrics that are available without unreasonable efforts.
29. As previously mentioned, the Proxy discloses projections of non-GAAP metrics
such as “leverage free cash flows.” However, it is unclear whether this is equivalent to the
commonly used non-GAAP metric “unlevered free cash flows.” In either instance, in order to
make the projections for Delek included on pages 155 of the Proxy materially complete and not
misleading, Defendants must provide a reconciliation table of the non-GAAP measures to the
most comparable GAAP measures.
2 Mary Jo White, Keynote Address, International Corporate Governance Network Annual Conference: Focusing the Lens of Disclosure to Set the Path Forward on Board Diversity, Non-GAAP, and Sustainability (June 27, 2016), https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/chair-white-icgn-speech.html.
3 See, e.g., Nicolas Grabar and Sandra Flow, Non-GAAP Financial Measures: The SEC’s Evolving Views, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation (June 24, 2016), https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2016/06/24/non-gaap-financial-measures-the-secs-evolving-views/; Gretchen Morgenson, Fantasy Math Is Helping Companies Spin Losses Into Profits, N.Y. Times, Apr. 22, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/ 2016/04/24/business/fantasy-math-is-helping-companies-spin-losses-into-profits.html?_r=0.
4 Non-GAAP Financial Measures, Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations, U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (May 17, 2017), https://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/guidance/nongaapinterp.htm.
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30. At the very least, the Company must disclose the line item projections for the
financial metrics that were used to calculated the non-GAAP measures. Such projections are
necessary to make the non-GAAP projections included in the Proxy not misleading. Indeed, the
Defendants acknowledge that disclosing non-GAAP projections may mislead shareholders in the
Proxy: “However, this information is not fact and should not be relied upon as being necessarily
indicative of future results, and readers of this joint proxy statement/prospectus are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on the unaudited forecasted financial information.” Proxy 152.
31. Such projections were specifically based on each company’s forecasts and were
relied upon by the bankers in connection with their valuation analyses. Proxy 126. Delek
shareholders would find such cash flow projections material in assessing the fairness of the
Merger Consideration. The omission of the cash flow projections renders the projections set
forth in the Proxy materially incomplete and misleading. If a proxy discloses projections, such
projections must be complete and accurate.
32. The Proxy also omits certain key inputs necessary for shareholders to assess the
valuation analyses performed by Tudor in support of their fairness opinions, rendering the
summaries of such analyses in the Proxy incomplete and misleading.
33. With respect to Tudor’s Discounted Cash Flow Analysis, the Proxy discloses that
the ranges of “estimated free cash flow” were discounted to present values as of December 31,
2016. However, the summary of this analysis does not define whether “leverage free cash flow,”
was utilized, or “unlevered free cash flows.” As a result of these omissions, shareholders are
unable to assess whether Tudor’s discounted cash flow analysis, generally considered the most
useful analysis, should be considered in deciding whether or not to vote. The omission of such
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information renders the summaries of these valuation analyses and the ranges of implied share
price on pages 126 of the Proxy Statement misleading.
34. In sum, the omission of the above-referenced information renders statements in
the Proxy materially incomplete and misleading, in contravention of the Exchange Act. Absent
disclosure of the foregoing material information prior to the special shareholder meeting to vote
on the Proposed Merger, Plaintiff and the other members of the Class will be unable to make a
fully-informed decision regarding whether to vote in favor of the Proposed Merger, and they are
thus threatened with irreparable harm, warranting the injunctive relief sought herein.
COUNT I
(Against All Defendants for Violations of Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act and Rule 14a-9 and 17 C.F.R. § 244.100 Promulgated Thereunder)
35. Plaintiff incorporates each and every allegation set forth above as if fully set forth
herein.
36. Section 14(a)(1) of the Exchange Act makes it “unlawful for any person, by the
use of the mails or by any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce or of any facility of a
national securities exchange or otherwise, in contravention of such rules and regulations as the
Commission may prescribe as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection
of investors, to solicit or to permit the use of his name to solicit any proxy or consent or
authorization in respect of any security (other than an exempted security) registered pursuant to
section 78l of this title.” 15 U.S.C. § 78n(a)(1).
37. Rule 14a-9, promulgated by the SEC pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Exchange
Act, provides that Proxy communications with shareholders shall not contain “any statement
which, at the time and in the light of the circumstances under which it is made, is false or
misleading with respect to any material fact, or which omits to state any material fact necessary
in order to make the statements therein not false or misleading.” 17 C.F.R. § 240.14a-9.
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38. SEC Regulation G has two requirements: (1) a general disclosure requirement;
and (2) a reconciliation requirement. The general disclosure requirement prohibits “mak[ing]
public a non-GAAP financial measure that, taken together with the information accompanying
that measure, contains an untrue statement of a material fact or omits to state a material fact
necessary in order to make the presentation of the non-GAAP financial measure…not
misleading.” 17 C.F.R. § 244.100(b). The reconciliation requirement requires an issuer that
chooses to disclose a non-GAAP measure to provide a presentation of the “most directly
comparable” GAAP measure, and a reconciliation “by schedule or other clearly understandable
method” of the non-GAAP measure to the “most directly comparable” GAAP measure. 17
C.F.R. § 244.100(a). As set forth above, the Proxy omits information required by SEC
Regulation G, 17 C.F.R. § 244.100.
39. The omission of information from a proxy statement will violate Section 14(a)
and Rule 14a-9 if other SEC regulations specifically require disclosure of the omitted
information.
40. Defendants have issued the Proxy with the intention of soliciting shareholder
support for the Proposed Merger. Each of the Defendants reviewed and authorized the
dissemination of the Proxy, which fails to provide critical information regarding, amongst other
things: (i) the company’s projections, (ii) the valuation analyses performed by its financial
advisor.
41. In so doing, Defendants made untrue statements of fact and/or omitted material
facts necessary to make the statements made not misleading. Each of the Individual Defendants,
by virtue of their roles as officers and/or directors, were aware of the omitted information but
failed to disclose such information, in violation of Section 14(a). The Individual Defendants
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were therefore negligent, as they had reasonable grounds to believe material facts existed that
were misstated or omitted from the Proxy, but nonetheless failed to obtain and disclose such
information to shareholders although they could have done so without extraordinary effort.
42. The Individual Defendants knew or were negligent in not knowing that the Proxy
is materially misleading and omits material facts that are necessary to render it not misleading.
The Individual Defendants undoubtedly reviewed and relied upon the omitted information
identified above in connection with their decision to approve and recommend the Proposed
Merger; indeed, the Proxy states that Tudor reviewed and discussed its financial analyses with
the Board, and further states that the Board considered both the financial analysis provided by
Tudor as well as its fairness opinion and the assumptions made and matters considered in
connection therewith.
43. The Individual Defendants knew or were negligent in not knowing that the
material information identified above has been omitted from the Proxy, rendering the sections of
the Proxy identified above to be materially incomplete and misleading. Indeed, the Individual
Defendants were required to review Tudor’s analysis in connection with their receipt of the
fairness opinion, question Tudor as to its derivation of fairness, and be particularly attentive to
the procedures followed in preparing the Proxy and review it carefully before it was
disseminated, to corroborate that there are no material misstatements or omissions.
44. The Individual Defendants were, at the very least, negligent in preparing and
reviewing the Proxy. The preparation of a proxy statement by corporate insiders containing
materially false or misleading statements or omitting a material fact constitutes negligence. The
Individual Defendants were negligent in choosing to omit material information from the Proxy or
failing to notice the material omissions in the Proxy upon reviewing it, which they were required
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to do carefully as the Company’s directors. Indeed, the Individual Defendants were intricately
involved in the process leading up to the signing of the Merger Agreement and the preparation of
the Company’s financial projections.
45. Delek is also deemed negligent as a result of the Individual Defendants’
negligence in preparing and reviewing the Proxy.
46. The misrepresentations and omissions in the Proxy are material to Plaintiff and
the Class, who will be deprived of their right to cast an informed vote if such misrepresentations
and omissions are not corrected prior to the vote on the Proposed Merger.
47. Plaintiff and the Class have no adequate remedy at law. Only through the
exercise of this Court’s equitable powers can Plaintiff and the Class be fully protected from the
immediate and irreparable injury that Defendants’ actions threaten to inflict.
COUNT II
(Against the Individual Defendants for Violations
of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act)
48. Plaintiff incorporates each and every allegation set forth above as if fully set forth
herein.
49. The Individual Defendants acted as controlling persons of Delek within the
meaning of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act as alleged herein. By virtue of their positions as
officers and/or directors of Delek, and participation in and/or awareness of the Company’s
operations and/or intimate knowledge of the incomplete and misleading statements contained in
the Proxy filed with the SEC, they had the power to influence and control and did influence and
control, directly or indirectly, the decision making of the Company, including the content and
dissemination of the various statements that Plaintiff contends are materially incomplete and
misleading.
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50. Each of the Individual Defendants was provided with or had unlimited access to
copies of the Proxy and other statements alleged by Plaintiff to be misleading prior to and/or
shortly after these statements were issued and had the ability to prevent the issuance of the
statements or cause the statements to be corrected.
51. In particular, each of the Individual Defendants had direct and supervisory
involvement in the day-to-day operations of the Company, and, therefore, is presumed to have
had the power to control or influence the particular transactions giving rise to the Exchange Act
violations alleged herein, and exercised the same. The Proxy at issue contains the unanimous
recommendation of each of the Individual Defendants to approve the Proposed Merger. They
were thus directly involved in preparing this document.
52. In addition, as the Proxy sets forth at length, and as described herein, the
Individual Defendants were involved in negotiating, reviewing, and approving the Merger
Agreement. The Proxy purports to describe the various issues and information that the
Individual Defendants reviewed and considered. The Individual Defendants participated in
drafting and/or gave their input on the content of those descriptions.
53. By virtue of the foregoing, the Individual Defendants have violated Section 20(a)
of the Exchange Act.
54. As set forth above, the Individual Defendants had the ability to exercise control
over and did control a person or persons who have each violated Section 14(a) and Rule 14a-9 by
their acts and omissions as alleged herein. By virtue of their positions as controlling persons,
these Defendants are liable pursuant to Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act. As a direct and
proximate result of Individual Defendants’ conduct, Plaintiff and the Class will be irreparably
harmed.
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55. Plaintiff and the Class have no adequate remedy at law. Only through the
exercise of this Court’s equitable powers can Plaintiff and the Class be fully protected from the
immediate and irreparable injury that Defendants’ actions threaten to inflict.
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays for judgment and relief as follows:
A. Declaring that this action is properly maintainable as a Class Action and
certifying Plaintiff as Class Representative and his counsel as Class Counsel;
B. Enjoining Defendants and all persons acting in concert with them from
proceeding with the shareholder vote on the Proposed Merger or consummating the Proposed
Merger, unless and until the Company discloses the material information discussed above which
has been omitted from the Proxy;
C. Directing the Defendants to account to Plaintiff and the Class for all damages
sustained as a result of their wrongdoing;
D. Awarding Plaintiff the costs and disbursements of this action, including
reasonable attorneys’ and expert fees and expenses;
E. Granting such other and further relief as this Court may deem just and proper.
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18
JURY DEMAND
Plaintiff demands a trial by jury on all issues so triable.
Dated: June 2, 2017
By:
BRANSTETTER, STRANCH
& JENNINGS, PLLC
/s/ J. Gerard Stranch, IV
J. Gerard Stranch, IV, BPR# 23045
The Freedom Center
223 Rosa L. Parks Avenue, Suite 200
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: (615) 254-8801
Email: gerards@bsjfirm.com
OF Counsel:
MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES
PC
Juan E. Monteverde
The Empire State Building
350 Fifth Avenue, 59th Floor
New York, NY 10118
Tel: (212) 971-1341
E-mail:
jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com
Attorneys for Plaintiffs
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