SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP announces that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed in the Northern District of California on behalf of purchasers of Intelsat S.A. (NYSE:I) shares contemporaneously with defendants’ unlawful sales between November 5, 2019 and November 18, 2019 (the “Class Period”). The case is captioned Hill v. Silver Lake Group, L.L.C., No. 20-cv-02341, and is assigned to Judge Jeffrey S. White. The Intelsat securities class action lawsuit charges two of Intelsat’s controlling shareholders, Silver Lake Group L.L.C. and BC Partners LLP, and two of Intelsat’s directors (who are also partners of BC Partners) with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“1934 Act”).
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Intelsat securities during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in the Intelsat securities class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the Intelsat securities class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the Intelsat securities class action lawsuit. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery of the Intelsat securities class action lawsuit is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff of the Intelsat securities class action lawsuit or have questions concerning your rights regarding the Intelsat securities class action lawsuit, please visit our website by clicking here or contact Mary Blasy at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at mblasy@rgrdlaw.com. Lead plaintiff motions for the Intelsat securities class action lawsuit must be filed with the court no later than June 8, 2020.
Intelsat, organized as a public limited liability company under the laws of Luxembourg, is a satellite operator that provides TV and radio communications. According to the Company, it “hold[s] the largest collection of rights to well-placed orbital slots in the most valuable C- and Ku-band spectrums.” The Company’s “fleet of 54 geosynchronous satellites” (as of December 31, 2019) covers “more than 99% of the world’s populated regions.”
The Intelsat securities class action lawsuit alleges that defendants violated the 1934 Act by selling a block of Intelsat shares while in possession of material non-public information. Specifically, defendants allegedly knew that Intelsat had met with the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) on November 5, 2019 to discuss the private sale of certain wavebands controlled by Intelsat for future “5G” use (the “C-Band”) and that the FCC had opposed Intelsat’s then-existing proposal, favoring a public auction rather than a private sale of the C-Band. On November 18, 2019, after the FCC announced it would publicly auction the C-Band that Intelsat had been hoping to sell privately, Intelsat’s stock price fell over 40%, from a close of $13.41 per share on November 15, 2019 to a close of $8.03 per share on November 18, 2019.
As was later revealed, however, certain insiders sold a large chunk of Intelsat shares just before this massive stock plunge, capitalizing on their knowledge that the FCC viewed Intelsat’s proposals negatively. Notwithstanding Intelsat’s rush to submit a revised proposal, on November 6, 2019, before notice of the meeting was even posted on the FCC’s website (which occurred on November 8, 2019), defendants appear to have sold a block of 10 million Intelsat shares for about $24.60 per share. It was then revealed that the “$246 million block was shopped after markets closed on Nov. 5,” with “no advance warning that the sale was coming,” that pressure was placed on “interested buyers” who “were told they had an hour or so to decide,” and that defendants BC Partners and Silver Lake appear to have been the sellers of those shares. The complaint alleges that both BC Partners and Silver Lake had significant control over the Company and knew, or were reckless in not knowing, that they were prohibited from trading based on confidential market-moving information, but traded anyway, disposing of their Intelsat stock before this news was announced and the price of the Company’s shares plummeted.
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading law firms representing investors in securities litigation. With 200 lawyers in 9 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. For seven consecutive years, ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked the Firm in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report as one of the top law firms in the world in both amount recovered for shareholders and total number of class action settlements. Robbins Geller attorneys have helped shape the securities laws and have recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved victims. Beyond securing financial recoveries for defrauded investors, Robbins Geller also specializes in implementing corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Robbins Geller attorneys are consistently recognized by courts, professional organizations, and the media as leading lawyers in the industry. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.
