JAB, Coty Ex-Board Pay $35 Million in $1.7 Billion Takeover Case

JAB Holding Co. affiliates and former Coty Inc. board members will pay $35 million to end investor litigation challenging the $1.7 billion deal that gave the consumer goods giant a majority stake in the cosmetics company.

The class action settlement, disclosed in court filings Thursday, would resolve claims that JAB exploited its influence over Coty to increase its ownership from 40% to 60% through an “opportunistically timed, coercive, and misleading” tender offer. Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard, the former chief judge of Delaware’s Chancery Court, let the case advance in August 2020.

The lawsuit, filed in 2019, included claims on behalf ...