In In Re Appraisal of Panera Bread Company (Dec. 31, 2019), the Delaware Court of Chancery found that the sale process relating to the $7.5 billion acquisition of Panera Bread Company by JAB Holdings B.V. was sufficient for the court to rely on the deal price to determine appraised fair value. The court also found that JAB provided sufficient evidence for the court to deduct from the deal price the value of certain expected merger synergies (pursuant to the statutory mandate to exclude from fair value any value “arising from the merger itself”). The appraisal result was about 3.7% below the deal price. Finally, in a matter of first impression, the court ruled that JAB–which had prepaid the appraisal claimants based on the full deal price, was not entitled under the appraisal statute to a refund on the prepayment.
Key Points
