National Holdings Corp. Sued by Investor Over Buyout by B. Riley

A National Holdings Corp. investor sued it in Delaware Chancery Court, seeking company records to investigate whether the asset manager’s proposed buyout by B. Riley Financial Inc. reflects conflicts of interest among board members who may have conditioned the deal on equity awards for themselves.

The sales process “appears to have been at first partially thwarted by National management’s attempts to secure unique benefits,” and “then potentially infected” by “suspiciously timed communications between National’s management and BRF,” the complaint says.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, focuses on the complex negotiations leading up to the proposed $3.25-per-share deal, involving multiple members of ...