Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. CEO Talbott Roche and executive chairman William Y. Tauscher escaped claims Monday that they dodged activist pressure by engineering an underpriced private equity buyout, although a Delaware Chancery Court judge ordered Roche to face one allegation of deficient deal disclosures.
“The complaint does not contain well-pleaded allegations that Roche and Tauscher manipulated the board’s deliberative process,” misled it “into approving the transaction, or “were motivated by the prospect of post-closing employment,” Vice Chancellor Paul A. Fioravanti Jr. wrote.
The lawsuit, filed in September 2019 by the City of Warren (Mich.) General Employee Retirement System, concerned Blackhawk’s...
