Antin Infrastructure Wins Case Over Busted $230 Million Deal (1)

Antin Infrastructure Partners SAS won the right to walk away from a $230 million transaction it scuttled after a “shakedown artist” emerged and sowed deal chaos by claiming to hold a stake in an affiliate of the acquisition target.

A Delaware judge, Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, ruled Tuesday for the French private equity firm, denying a bid by the founder of Florida-based telecom OpticalTel to compel closing of the sale. The partial ownership claims that upended the deal—made by a former OpticalTel employee—gave Antin a valid reason to terminate it, McCormick held.

She acknowledged in a 93-page opinion that ...