B. Riley Hit With Investor Lawsuit Over National Holdings Buyout

A former National Holdings Corp. investor has filed a court challenge to its take-private acquisition by B. Riley Financial Inc.

The proposed shareholder class action targets B. Riley and National’s ex-CEO, Michael Mullen, who’s now a B. Riley executive. It accuses them of forcing through an underpriced transaction after Mullen was motivated by unfair perks and a hostile takeover threat to sabotage a competing buyout proposal from a management-led consortium.

Mullen and B. Riley’s leaders kept National’s board in the dark while negotiating large equity and pay awards for senior management, then belatedly invited the board to get involved and ...