Architects of a failed $8.6 billion blank-check merger with Tilman Fertitta‘s restaurant and casino empire will pay $12.5 million to resolve claims that they pocketed most of a $33 million breakup fee — instead of sharing it with investors — after the billionaire Houston Rockets owner walked away from the deal, Bloomberg reports.
Investors in Fast Acquisition, which would have taken Fertitta Entertainment public, submitted the class action settlement Wednesday to Delaware’s Chancery Court. Fertitta’s subsidiaries include Landry’s and the Golden Nugget casino chain.
The lawsuit was filed in August 2022. Fertitta called off the merger in December 2021. Terms of the argeement called for Fertitta to pay Fast Acquisition at least $26 million if the SPAC had not completed another deal by Aug. 1, 2022, and subsequently decided to dissolve operations. Fertitta had already paid $6 million to the SPAC plus a $1 million loan following the breakup, according to regulatory filings.
Fast Acquisition, in announcing its liquidation last year, said its sponsor intended to keep all of the breakup fee paid by Fertitta. That’s when the litigation began to fly. Read more.
