UpHealth Holdings must pay $37 million to investment bank Needham & Co. LLC over a blank-check merger, a New York state appeals court ruled Thursday.
The New York Supreme Court First Appellate Division affirmed a lower court’s ruling in a four-page opinion.
An UpHealth unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September after a New York Supreme Court judge ruled the telemedicine provider had to pay Needham a fee for arranging the merger agreement with GigCapital2 in 2021.
The lower court correctly determined that UpHealth was liable for obligations owed to Needham, the appellate court ruled.
The SPAC deal had an enterprise value of $1.35 billion when UpHealth began trading on the NYSE.
The legal dispute stemmed from UpHealth Services’ hiring Needham & Company for financial advisory and placement purposes. The trial court in New York last year issued a decision favoring Needham by granting them summary judgment. As a result, the court ruled that Needham was entitled to receive fees totaling more than $31 million plus interest. Read more.
