Ruling Allows Suit Accusing Goldman of Conflict in Stock Offering
A state appeals court ruled on Tuesday that a lower court could hear a case about whether an investment firm hid a conflict of interest for its own profit when it was hired to help a start-up company take its stock public.
事案の内容はというと･･･
In May 1999, near the height of the Internet stock boom, the initial offering of eToys was set at $20 a share by Goldman Sachs. On the first day of trading, the share price soared as high as $85 and closed at $76.56.
The suit contends Goldman Sachs deliberately underpriced the offering so it could profit by selling the shares of eToys it owned after the initial run-up in the price. Goldman Sachs also made money from favored customers it sold shares to in the offering, the suit contends.
IPOにあたって幹事証券会社が安く設定した公募価格で引受けて転売して利益をあげたことが問題とされているわけですが、(記事によればですが)これに対してGSは利益を上げたことやプライシングの妥当性ではなく、IPO企業と幹事証券会社との契約は独立当事者取引であって、契約に書かれた以上の信任義務(fiduciary duty)はないと主張しているようです。
Goldman Sachs contends that its relationship with eToys was an arms-length commercial one in which it had only the duty of buying shares of eToys and reselling them. It said allowing the suit to continue could "require New York's financial community - the engine of global capitalism - to revise contracts and practices that have served it well for decades."
理論的な面でも実質的な面でも、いろいろと興味深い問題を孕んでいますので、そのうち、これについてはもう少し掘り下げて考えてみたいところです。
Posted by 47th : | 11:14 AM
