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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Deutsche Bank AG v. Vik, 349 Conn. 120 (2024)

Citation
Deutsche Bank AG v. Vik, 349 Conn. 120 (2024)
Parent Document
Deutsche Bank AG v. Vik, 349 Conn. 120 (2024)
Jurisdiction
Connecticut (state)
Effective Date
2024-05-28

Other Sections in This Document (136)

Full Text

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the sale of the Confirmit shares. On December 4, 2019,
         the District Court denied her application for a prelimi-
         nary injunction. Two days later, Caroline filed another
         petition, this time with the Oslo Enforcement Court,
         again seeking to enforce the ROFR. This petition also
         was denied. On February 11, 2020, the District Court
         issued an order to show cause why Caroline’s action
         should not be dismissed. In response, Caroline ‘‘volunta-
         rily dismissed’’ the Connecticut District Court action.
            According to the complaint, Caroline’s actions in
         Connecticut and Norway were ‘‘timed specifically to
         interfere with the forced sale of the Confirmit shares
         and the business expectations of [the plaintiff]. . . .
         The execution and attempted enforcement of [Caro-
         line’s] sham ROFR on which she based her requests for
         an injunction [were] for the sole purpose of interfering
         with the . . . sale . . . and had no proper purpose or
         justification.’’ The complaint alleges that, in a recent
         court filing in Norway, Hans Eirik Olav, SHI’s purported
         signatory on the ROFR, stated that he has no recollec-
         tion of ever entering into a ROFR agreement with Caro-
         line and that the document appears to him to be a
         forgery.
            Another tactic allegedly utilized by Alexander to dis-
         rupt, delay, or otherwise interfere with the sale of the
         Confirmit shares was the submission of a fraudulent
         bid to purchase the shares. The complaint alleges that,
         on October 18, 2019, ‘‘[a]fter ABG initiated the first
         phase of the Confirmit sale process, [Alexander] sub-
         mitted an ‘all-cash’ indicative bid to acquire the Con-
         firmit shares for $325 million. He did so . . . in an
         effort to disrupt the sale process, which he intentionally
         manipulated by submitting [the] false bid under the
         cover of yet another shell company,’’ Xcelera, Inc. (Xcel-
         era), a company Alexander knew ‘‘could never have
         realistically advanced [$325 million to purchase the
         Confirmit shares].’’ According to the complaint, Alexan-
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