Proposed Settlements with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Individual Defendants in the MF Global Holdings Limited Securities Litigation

NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement is being issued by Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP and Bleichmar Fonti Tountas & Auld LLP regarding the In re MF Global Holdings Limited Securities Litigation.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

IN RE MF GLOBAL HOLDINGS LIMITED SECURITIES LITIGATION, Civil Action No. 1:11-CV-07866-VM

THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO: All Securities Actions, (DeAngelis v. Corzine), ECF CASE

SUMMARY NOTICE OF (I) CERTIFICATION OF SETTLEMENT CLASSES; (II) PROPOSED SETTLEMENTS WITH PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP AND THE INDIVIDUAL DEFENDANTS; (III) MOTION FOR AN AWARD OF ATTORNEYS' FEES AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES; AND (IV) SETTLEMENT FAIRNESS HEARING

TO: All persons and entities who or which, during the period beginning on May 20, 2010 through and including November 21, 2011, purchased or otherwise acquired any MF Global Securities¹ and were damaged thereby (the PwC and the Individual Defendant Settlement Classes).

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY, YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE AFFECTED BY A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT PENDING IN THIS COURT.

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED, pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Orders of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, that the above-captioned litigation (the "Action") has been certified as a class action for the purposes of settlement only on behalf of the PwC Settlement Class and the Individual Defendant Settlement Class, except for certain persons and entities who are excluded from those Settlement Classes by definition as set forth in the full printed Notice of (I) Certification of Settlement Classes; (II) Proposed Settlements with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the Individual Defendants; (III) Motion for an Award of Attorneys' Fees and Reimbursement of Expenses; and (IV) Settlement Fairness Hearing (the "Notice").

YOU ARE ALSO NOTIFIED that Lead Plaintiffs in the Action have reached proposed partial settlements of the Action (i) with defendant PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ("PwC") for $65,000,000 in cash (the "PwC Settlement") and (ii) with Jon S. Corzine, J. Randy MacDonald, and Henri J. Steenkamp (collectively, the "Officer Defendants"), David P. Bolger, Eileen S. Fusco, David Gelber, Martin J.G. Glynn, Edward L. Goldberg, David I. Schamis, and Robert S. Sloan (collectively, the "Director Defendants," together with the Officer Defendants, the "Individual Defendants") for $64,500,000 in cash, that, if approved, will resolve all claims asserted in the Action against PwC, MF Global's outside auditor, and against the Individual Defendants, respectively.  These proposed settlements will be considered independently by the Court and they do not resolve any claims against the other Defendants in the Action.

A hearing will be held on November 20, 2015 at 9:30 a.m., before the Honorable Victor Marrero at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Courtroom 11B of the United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007 to determine: (i) whether the proposed PwC Settlement should be approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate; (ii) whether the proposed Individual Defendant Settlement should be approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate; (iii) whether the Action should be dismissed with prejudice as against PwC and the Releases specified and described in the Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement with Defendant PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP dated April 3, 2015 should be granted; (iv) whether the Action should be dismissed with prejudice as against the Individual Defendants and the Releases specified and described in the Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement with the Individual Defendants dated July 2, 2015 should be granted; (v) whether the proposed Plan of Allocation for the proceeds of the settlements achieved in the Action is fair and reasonable and should be approved; and (vi) whether Co-Lead Counsel's application for an award of attorneys' fees and reimbursement of litigation expenses should be approved.           

If you are a member of the PwC or the Individual Defendant Settlement Class, your rights will be affected by the proposed settlements and any orders or judgments related to those settlements, and you may be entitled to share in the PwC and/or Individual Defendant Settlement Funds.  If you have not yet received the Notice, the proposed Plan of Allocation and the Proof of Claim Form (the "Notice Packet") you may obtain copies of those documents by contacting the Claims Administrator at In re MF Global Holdings Limited Securities Litigation, c/o Garden City Group, LLC, P.O. Box 10164, Dublin, OH 43017-3164, 1‑877-940-5045.  Copies of those documents can also be downloaded from the website maintained by the Claims Administrator, www.MFGlobalSecuritiesClassAction.com. 

Please note, if you are a member of the PwC or the Individual Defendant Settlement Class, you may also be a member of the classes certified in connection with the settlement with certain Underwriter Defendants (the "Underwriter Settlement") and the settlement with defendant Commerz Markets LLC (the "Commerz Settlement").  In order to be eligible to receive a payment from those settlements, which were approved by the Court on June 26, 2015, or from the proposed PwC and Individual Defendant Settlements, if they are approved, you must submit a Proof of Claim Form postmarked no later than December 3, 2015.² If you are a member of one or more of these settlement classes and do not submit a proper Proof of Claim Form, you will not be eligible to share in the distribution of the net proceeds of the settlement(s) obtained on behalf of those class(es) in which you are a member but you will nevertheless be bound by any judgments or orders entered by the Court related to the applicable settlement(s). 

If you are a member of the PwC or the Individual Defendant Settlement Class and wish to exclude yourself from the classes, you must submit a written request for exclusion such that it is received no later than October 23, 2015, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice.  (The deadline for requesting exclusion from the Underwriter and Commerz Settlement Classes has passed, as set forth in the notices of those settlements which were previously disseminated and which can be viewed on the website noted above.)  If you properly exclude yourself from either the PwC or the Individual Defendant Settlement Class, you will be excluded from both of those classes and you will also be excluded from any other classes that may yet be certified in the Action in which you would otherwise be a member, you will not be bound by any judgments or orders entered by the Court in the Action with respect to the PwC or Individual Defendant Settlements or any classes yet to be certified, and you will not be eligible to share in the proceeds of the PwC or the Individual Defendant Settlements or any other recoveries that may subsequently be obtained in the Action.

Any objections to the proposed PwC Settlement, the proposed Individual Defendant Settlement, the proposed Plan of Allocation, or Co-Lead Counsel's motion for attorneys' fees and reimbursement of litigation expenses must be filed with the Court and delivered to Co-Lead Counsel and, if the objection is to the PwC Settlement and/or the Individual Defendant Settlement, to designated counsel for those Defendants such that they are received no later than October 23, 2015, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice.

Please do not contact the Court, the Clerk's office, Defendants or their counsel regarding this notice.  All questions about this notice, the proposed PwC and Individual Defendant Settlements, the Plan of Allocation or the fee/expense application should be directed to Co-Lead Counsel or the Claims Administrator.

Inquiries, other than requests for the Notice Packet, should be made to Co‑Lead Counsel:  

BERNSTEIN LITOWITZ BERGER & GROSSMANN LLP
Salvatore J. Graziano, Esq.
1285 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10019
(800) 380-8496
[email protected]        

or        

BLEICHMAR FONTI TOUNTAS & AULD LLP
Javier Bleichmar, Esq.
7 Times Square, 27^th Floor
New York, NY 10036
(212) 789-1340
[email protected]         

Requests for the Notice Packet or to be added to the mailing list for future notices in the Action should be made to:

In re MF Global Holdings Limited Securities Litigation 
c/o Garden City Group, LLC
P.O. Box 10164
Dublin, OH 43017-3164
(877) 940-5045
www.MFGlobalSecuritiesClassAction.com

By Order of the Court

¹ The MF Global Securities are: the common stock of MF Global Holdings Limited ("MF Global") (including shares acquired through the MF Global Ltd. Amended and Restated 2007 Long Term Incentive Plan or the MF Global Ltd. Employee Stock Purchase Plan) (CUSIP 55277J108); MF Global's 9% Convertible Senior Notes due June 20, 2038 issued on or about June 25, 2008 (CUSIP 55276YAB2); MF Global's 1.875% Convertible Senior Notes due February 1, 2016 issued on or about February 7, 2011 (CUSIP 55277JAA6); MF Global's 3.375% Convertible Senior Notes due August 1, 2018 issued on or about July 28, 2011 (CUSIP 55277JAB4); and MF Global's 6.25% Senior Notes due August 8, 2016 issued on or about August 1, 2011 (CUSIP 55277JAC2).  

² If you ask to be excluded from the PwC and the Individual Defendant Settlement Classes, but you are a member of the Underwriter and/or Commerz Settlement Class(es) you will still be eligible to participate in the recoveries obtained in connection with those settlements, but you will not be eligible to participate in the recoveries obtained from PwC and the Individual Defendants if those settlements are approved or any subsequent recoveries achieved.

SOURCE Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP; Bleichmar Fonti Tountas & Auld LLP