KnowBe4 Investors Advance Lawsuit Over Take-Private Valuation

KnowBe4 Inc. investors have adequately pleaded some of their class claims against the cybersecurity training company, its new owner, and insider shareholders over its buyout valuation, a federal court ruled.

The investors can proceed with proxy misstatement claims over the fairness of a proposed $24.90-per-share price, said Chief Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. They also showed an actionable omission in the proxy’s description of an insider fund’s $300 million stock rollover into the post-takeover entity, Altonaga said in an opinion docketed Tuesday.

Securities fraud claims can also proceed, but only ...