BrightView is a leading provider of commercial landscaping services. Lead Plaintiff’s claims arise from allegedly material misstatements and omissions made by Defendants in the Offering Materials issued in connection with the Company’s IPO of 24,495,000 shares of common stock, which closed on July 2, 2018. BrightView’s common stock issued in the IPO was registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) pursuant to the registration statement filed with the SEC on Form S-1, which following several amendments, was declared effective by the SEC on June 28, 2018 (the Registration Statement). On or about June 29, 2018, BrightView filed with the SEC the final prospectus for the IPO (the Prospectus), which forms part of the Registration Statement (the Prospectus and Registration Statement, as amended, are referred to collectively as the Offering Materials)
Lead Plaintiff filed an Amended Class Action Complaint on May 31, 2019 (the Amended Complaint). The Amended Complaint alleges violations of Section 11 and 15 of the Securities Act on behalf of a class of all who purchased or otherwise acquired BrightView common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the Company’s Offering Materials. The Amended Complaint alleges that the registration statement and prospectus used to conduct the June 28, 2018, IPO were false and misleading for failing to disclose that BrightView was experiencing a labor shortage and was saddled with substantial unprofitable contracts. BrightView also failed to disclose that before the IPO, the Company engaged in a Managed Exit initiative to terminate or exit many of these unprofitable contracts and would continue to do so well into 2019. By February 8, 2019, BrightView’s stock price had fell to $12.75—42% below the price at which the stock was sold to the investing public in the IPO.
On August 12, 2019, Defendants filed preliminary objections seeking dismissal of the action and a petition seeking to stay the action. On November 6, 2019, the Court overruled Defendants’ preliminary objections to Lead Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint and denied Defendants’ petition for dismissal for forum non conveniens or for a stay in its entirety. On January 10, 2020, Defendants filed their answers to the Amended Complaint and new matters setting forth their defenses. On January 31, 2020, Lead Plaintiff filed answers to Defendants’ new matters.
On June 22, 2020, the Parties reached an agreement in principle to settle the claims against all of the Defendants, subject to the negotiation of a mutually acceptable stipulation of settlement, which was executed by the Parties on August 27, 2020. The Court granted preliminary approval of the Settlement on September 15, 2020, and granted final approval of the Settlement on December 17, 2020.
The case is In re BrightView Holdings, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 2019-07222, in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Labaton Keller Sucharow represents lead plaintiff Gregory S. McComas, Sr. Labaton Keller Sucharow is Co-Lead Counsel along with Thornton Law Firm LLP and Pomerantz LLP.
Settlement Hearing
The Settlement Hearing was held remotely on December 14, 2020, at 1:30 pm before the Honorable Jeffrey S. Saltz, through video conferencing on the Zoom Meeting Platform and the court approved the Settlement and Plan of Allocation and awarded attorneys' fees and expenses.
If you have questions about the Settlement, please contact Labaton Keller Sucharow at settlementquestions@labaton.com or 1-888-219-6877, or contact the Claims Administrator at (877) 883-8244.
