Kyocera Sued by Former AVX Corp. Holders Over $1 Billion Buyout

Kyocera Corp. was hit with a lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court challenging “the opportunistic squeeze-out” of minority shareholders in electronics company AVX Corp., which the Japanese multinational took private for about $1 billion in March.

In addition to Kyocera, the suit targets members of the board at AVX, which still exists as an unintegrated subsidiary. It accuses them of forcing through an underpriced and conflicted $21.75-a-share deal, which upped Kyocera’s AFX stake from 72%, because of their ties to the larger conglomerate.

After customers triggered a “temporary slowdown” by overstocking in response to concerns about a supply crunch, AVX chairman-CEO ...