Lionsgate Chairman Rachesky Loses Bid to End Emisphere Deal Case

Lionsgate chairman Mark Rachesky and other former Emisphere Inc. board members must face shareholder litigation challenging the biotech company’s $1.8 billion sale to Novo Nordisk AS, a judge ruled Thursday.

Vice Chancellor Nathan A. Cook let the case advance in Delaware’s Chancery Court, finding it plausible that Rachesky—through affiliates of his investment firm, MHR Fund Management LLC—exploited his control of Emisphere to push the transaction on terms that favored insiders over public investors.

Cook issued the decision in a one-page order that followed a telephonic bench ruling Wednesday. No transcript of the hearing Wednesday was immediately available. Novo Nordisk, ...