Kevin M. Kennedy

Current Cases

• Continental Resources, Inc.

  Plaintiffs challenge the take-private acquisition of Continental Resources, Inc. by Continental’s controlling shareholder, Harold Hamm, which closed on November 22, 2022 (the “Take-Private”).  Hamm paid approximately $4.3 billion to squeeze out minority shareholders in a deal that valued Continental overall at approximately $27 billion.  On May 17, 2023, Plaintiffs filed their Verified Consolidated Class Action Petition.  The Petition alleges that Hamm violated his duty of loyalty to shareholders by paying an unfair price for Continental’s public shares, after an unfair negotiation process.  The Petition also alleges that Continental’s other board members were conflicted and failed to protect the interests of public shareholders.  Plaintiffs also alleged a breach of fiduciary duty by Hamm for engaging in insider trading by buying millions of shares of Continental stock and causing Continental to buy back shares while he was secretly planning to launch the Take-Private.  On October 3, 2023, the Court denied all defendants’ motions to dismiss, allowing all of Plaintiffs’ claims to proceed.  Plaintiffs are now engaging in document discovery.  Plaintiffs also filed their opening brief in support of class certification.

• Foundation Building Materials, Inc.

  KTMC brought claims on behalf of the minority stockholders of Foundation Building Materials, Inc. (“FBM” or the “Company”) to challenge the take-private acquisition of the Company by American Securities LLC (“American Securities”) for $19.25 per share in cash (the “Merger”). The Merger was instigated by FBM’s then-controlling shareholder, Lone Star Fund IX (U.S.), L.P. (“Lone Star”) in order to trigger a contractual “change-in-control” provision that entitled Lone Star to a hefty lump-sum payment upon the sale of the Company. Lone Star orchestrated the sale process with the help of a conflicted financial advisor, RBC Capital Markets (“RBC”) and faced no resistance from a “special committee” of FBM directors—itself advised by a conflicted banker, Evercore Group LLC (“Evercore”). FBM’s minority stockholders were not given the opportunity to approve the Merger, and did not receive timely notice of their appraisal rights as required under Delaware law.  Among other things, Plaintiff alleged breaches of fiduciary duties in connection with the unfair Merger, aiding and abetting of those breaches by RBC and Evercore, and violation of Delaware’s appraisal statute. Defendants moved to dismiss all claims, but the Delaware Court of Chancery denied, in large part, those motions.  The case is now proceeding into discovery and trial preparation.

• SiriusXM Holdings, Inc.

  KTMC brought claims by former minority stockholders of Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (“Sirius XM”) to challenge Sirius XM’s transaction with its controlling stockholder, Liberty Media Corporation (“Liberty Media”). In this transaction, Liberty Media separated Liberty SiriusXM Group, comprising Liberty Media’s ownership of Sirius XM, into a new company holding Liberty SiriusXM Group’s assets and liabilities, which then merged with Sirius XM to form “New Sirius” (the “Transaction”).  Plaintiffs allege that the Transaction was unfair to Sirius XM’s minority stockholders for a variety of reasons, including that, (i) it permits Liberty Media to offload potentially massive, unrelated tax liabilities onto New Sirius, and (ii) causes New Sirius to assume almost two billion dollars of Liberty SiriusXM Group debt. Moreover, the apparent purpose of the Transaction was to close the value gap between the trading price of Liberty SiriusXM Group’s tracking stock and Sirius XM’s net asset value which would not benefit former Sirius XM shareholders. Plaintiffs filed their complaint on October 15, 2024, and are currently awaiting Defendants’ responses.