AmTrust’s $40 Million Agreement Ends Take-Private Deal Challenge

The investors that challenged a take-private buyout by the founding family of AmTrust Financial Services Inc. won a Delaware judge’s approval for their $40 million settlement resolving allegations that the deal was “grossly unfair” to non-insiders it squeezed out.

Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will signed off Monday on the deal, which ends litigation in Delaware’s Chancery Court over claims that the billionaire Karfunkel family, CEO Barry Zyskind, and members of AmTrust’s board intentionally tanked its stock price to soften the ground for the transaction.

The agreement, first disclosed in an August court filing, includes $9.6 million in legal fees for ...