Bass, Berry & Sims Wins High-Stakes Case for Genesco
Nashville, Tenn., December 27, 2007 - Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, serving as lead counsel for Genesco, received a favorable judgment in the high-stakes litigation case Genesco, Inc. v. Finish Line, Inc., Headwind, Inc., UBS Securities LLC and UBS Loan Finance LLC.
In June 2007, Bass, Berry & Sims represented Genesco in connection with the negotiation of a merger agreement for Genesco to be acquired by Finish Line for $1.5 billion. The merger agreement was extremely seller-friendly, but when the credit markets subsequently took a dive, Finish Line and its lender, UBS, tried to back out of the deal accusing the company of withholding key financial information and citing a material adverse change based on Genesco's weaker than expected results from the second and third quarter of 2007. Bass, Berry & Sims' litigation team, led by Overton Thompson, filed suit to enforce the agreement asserting that there had been no fraud, that Genesco's recent performance was the result of general economic conditions which did not allow Finish Line to escape its obligations under the merger agreement, and that the merger agreement should be enforced as written.
On December 27, 2007, Tennessee Chancery Court Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled in favor of Genesco, dismissing all of Finish Line's arguments for breaking the agreement, rejecting claims that Genesco had committed fraud by concealing financial information and affirming that Finish Line had breached its merger agreement. Most significantly, Chancellor Lyle ordered that Finish Line must specifically perform its obligations under the merger agreement and close the transaction.
Click here for the entire 46-page opinion issued by Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle.
About Bass, Berry & Sims
Bass, Berry & Sims is a law firm of more than 200 attorneys in three Tennessee offices: Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville. Since its inception in 1922, the firm has been involved with many of the major business transactions and significant litigation matters throughout the country. The firm's clients include a broad range of Fortune 500 companies as well as local and regional businesses. For more information, visit www.bassberry.com.
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CONTACT: Erin Mosow
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