NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Bernstein Litowitz will lead class action litigation on behalf of shareholders of Vertiv Holdings.
The firm will be joined as lead counsel by Saxena White, a June 22 order by New York federal judge Gregory Woods states. The two represent a group of public pension funds that will serve as lead plaintiff.
Those funds are the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension & Relief Fund, the Orlando Police Pension Fund, the City of Plantation General Employees Retirement System, Riviera Beach Municipal Firefighters’ Pension Trust Fund and Riviera Beach General Employees’ Retirement System.
The funds say they lost when the value of Vertiv stock dropped in February when company admitted its adjusted operating income was 43% below the low end of its guidance range. The stock value dropped 37%.
Bernstein Litowitz and Saxena White said in a May motion to be appointed lead counsel they have a long history of working together, like a $210 million case against Wilmington Trust “which represents the second-largest securities class action recovery in Delaware history, and constituted an extraordinary recovery of nearly 40% of the class’ maximum likely recoverable damage.”
The case against Vertiv seeks to represent anyone who bought stock between Feb. 24, 2021 and Feb. 23, 2022. The company designs, manufactures and services "critical digital infrastructure technologies and life cycle services for data centers, communication networks and commercial and industrial environments."
During a secondary public offering, the company "touted its robust pricing capabilities," the lawsuit says. It sold 20 million shares at $24.83 per, making close to $500 million.
"Contrary to the company's representations, however, Vertiv's 'pricing initiatives' were ineffective and the company's sales force was not capable of driving higher pricing and passing costs on to customers," the suit claims.
"Instead, the sales team had resorted to discounting in order to drive sales and build the company's backlog, which resulted in lower margins and profitability."
On the same day as Bernstein Litowitz’s motion to be appointed lead counsel, the Excavators Union Local 731 Pension and Welfare Funds submitted one of its own, which says the union lost $823,015.05 when Vertiv’s stock dropped.
Local 731 is represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, which unsuccessfully asked to be named lead counsel.