Court: | United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire |
Case Number: | 1:14-cv-00443 |
Class Period: | 11/5/2013 – 10/6/2014 |
Case Team: | Catherine E. van Kampen |
This securities class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of Adam S. Levy against certain of the executive officers and directors of GT Advanced Technologies Inc. ("GT" or the "Company"), as well as the underwriters of the Company's public offering of 3.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2020 and GT's public offering of common stock, both conducted on or around December 4, 2013 (the "Offerings").
The action asserted claims under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on behalf of investors in GT securities during the period of November 5, 2013 to 9:40 am EST on October 6, 2014, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The action also asserted claims under the Securities Act of 1933 on behalf of investors that purchased securities pursuant or traceable to the Offerings.
The Complaint, filed on October 9, 2014, alleged that during the Class Period and/or in the offering materials for the Offerings, defendants misrepresented and/or concealed GT's cash position, expected cash position and revenues, ability to meet the milestones under a critical agreement with Apple for the production of sapphire material, and the progress that the Company was making developing the facility that would produce the sapphire material. On October 6, 2014, the Company announced that it was experiencing a liquidity crisis and filed for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire. On this news, the price of GT stock declined from $11.05 per share to $0.80 per share, or almost 93%. Similarly, the price of the Company's 3.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2020, which had a face value of $1,000 per note, declined from $1,083 per note to $315 per note, or almost 71%.
On May 20, 2015, the Honorable Joseph N. Laplante of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire appointed Douglas Kurz as Lead Plaintiff, and BLB&G as Lead Counsel. BLB&G filed a Consolidated Amended Complaint on July 20, 2015, which expanded on the claims alleged in the initial complaint and asserted additional claims against other GTAT executives, as well as securities fraud and control-person claims against Apple. On May 4, 2017, Judge Laplante denied defendants’ motions to dismiss in all material respects, and among other claims, allowed the control-person claims against Apple to proceed.
Settlement with Defendant Apple Inc.
Court-appointed Lead Plaintiff Douglas Kurz and plaintiff Palisade Strategic Master Fund (Cay-man) Limited, on behalf of themselves and the Court-certified Class (defined below), have reached a settlement with defendant Apple Inc. (“Apple”) for $3.5 million in cash (the “Apple Settlement”), which was finally approved by the Court on August 27, 2020. The Apple Settlement is in addition to two other partial settlements with the GTAT Individual Defendants and Underwriter Defendants previously approved by the Court in July 2018 totaling $36.7 million in cash (the “Earlier Settlements”), resulting in an aggregate recovery of $40.2 million in cash in this action.
The Class consists of:
all persons and entities who or which from November 5, 2013 through 9:40 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on October 6, 2014, inclusive (the “Class Period”) purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded GTAT common stock (“GTAT Common Stock”) and/or publicly traded GTAT 3.00% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2020 (“GTAT Senior Notes”), purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded call options on GTAT common stock (“GTAT Call Options”), and/or sold (wrote) publicly traded put options on GTAT common stock (“GTAT Put Options”), and were damaged thereby.
The claims administration has now concluded. On February 20, 2020, pursuant to the Court’s January 13, 2020 Order Approving Distribution Plan, payments from the Net Settlement Funds recovered from the Earlier Settlements were made to all Authorized Claimants whose claims were approved by the Court for payment subject to the requirements set forth in the Order. The second distribution occurred in July 2021.
We filed the distribution motion for the Apple Settlement on May 4, 2021 and it was approved by the Court on May 25, 2021. The initial distribution occurred on July 20, 2021.
More information about the Settlements can be found at: www.GTATSecuritiesLitigation.com