Oclaro nears merger suits settlement

Oclaro, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLR) says that it has made progress on settling a series of shareholder lawsuits associated with its merger with Opnext (see “Oclaro, Opnext merger completed”). The company says the Superior Court of California in Alameda County has preliminarily approved proposed settlements for four pending class action suits.

Under the proposed settlements, the plaintiffs in the suits would settle for additional disclosures only. The plaintiffs also have agreed to limit their application for fees and costs to $235,000. Meanwhile, the two lawsuits filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery challenging the merger would be dismissed.

The suits in question include Zilberberg v. Abbe, Case No. RG12623460, Welty v. Bosco, Case No. RG12624240, Greenberg v. Abbe, Case No. RG12624444, and Graf v. Opnext, Inc., Case No. RG12624798. The defendants in each case are Opnext and the members of Opnext's board (“Abbe” is former Opnext board member Charles Abbe, while “Bosco” is former Opnext Chairman and CEO Harry Bosco), Oclaro, and Tahoe Acquisition Sub, Inc. (a subsidiary Oclaro formed to facilitate the merger). The suits allege that the Opnext defendants breached their fiduciary duties to Opnext stockholders by agreeing to the merger, and that the Oclaro defendents aided and abetted these breaches.

The Superior Court has set a final approval hearing for January 31, 2013.

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