NEW YORK, July 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Labaton Sucharow LLP (“Labaton Sucharow”) announces that on July 23, 2018, it filed a securities class action lawsuit on behalf of its client Local 705 International Brotherhood of Teamsters Pension Fund (“Local 705”) against Diamond Resorts International, Inc. (“Diamond” or the “Company”) (NYSE:DRII), and certain of its senior executives (collectively, “Defendants”). The action, which is captioned Local 705 International Brotherhood of Teamsters Pension Fund v. Diamond Resorts International Inc., No. 18-cv-01355 (D. Nev.), asserts claims under Sections 14(e) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) on behalf of all shareholders who held, sold, or tendered Diamond common stock, or derivative securities convertible into, exercisable for, or exchangeable against Diamond common stock, from the period beginning on July 14, 2016 through September 1, 2016.
The Company owns a network of international vacation destinations and sells vacation ownership “points,” which entitles the owner to reserve rooms in one of Diamond’s resort or hotel properties. On July 14, 2016, Dakota Merger Sub, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC (“Apollo”), commenced a cash tender offer to acquire Diamond at a purchase price of $30.25 per share (the “Tender Offer”).
The Complaint alleges that Diamond issued a materially incomplete and misleading Schedule 14D-9 Solicitation/Recommendation Statement (the “Recommendation Statement”) related to the Tender Offer. Among other things, Defendants omitted the critical fact that the Stephen J. Cloobeck (“Cloobeck”), Diamond’s founder, Chairman, and largest stockholder, had abstained from voting on the sale of Diamond for reasons that directly contradicted the Board’s recommendation to the stockholder. Further, the Complaint alleges that Apollo offered consulting agreements or co-investment opportunities to Cloobeck, Diamond’s Vice Chairman Lowell Kraff, and Diamond’s President and Chief Executive Officer David Palmer to support the sale of Diamond to Apollo, additional consideration not provided to any other stockholder in the Company.
If you held, sold, or tendered Diamond common stock, or derivative securities convertible into, exercisable for, or exchangeable against Diamond common stock, from the period beginning on July 14, 2016, through September 1, 2016, you are a member of the “Class” and may be able to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff. Lead Plaintiff motion papers must be filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada no later than September 24, 2018. The Lead Plaintiff is a court-appointed representative for absent members of the Class. You do not need to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff to share in any Class recovery in this action. If you are a Class member and there is a recovery for the Class, you can share in that recovery as an absent Class member. You may retain counsel of your choice to represent you in this action.
If you would like to consider serving as Lead Plaintiff or have any questions about this lawsuit, you may contact Francis P. McConville, Esq. of Labaton Sucharow, at (800) 321-0476, or via email at fmcconville@labaton.com. You can view a copy of the complaint here.
Local 705 is represented by Labaton Sucharow, which represents many of the largest pension funds in the United States and internationally with combined assets under management of more than $2 trillion. Labaton Sucharow’s litigation reputation is built on its half-century of securities litigation experience, more than 60 full-time attorneys, and in-house team of investigators, financial analysts, and forensic accountants. Labaton Sucharow has been recognized for its excellence by the courts and peers, and it is consistently ranked in leading industry publications. Offices are located in New York, NY, Wilmington, DE, and Washington, D.C. More information about Labaton Sucharow is available at www.labaton.com.