Farmland Partners: ‘Short and Distort’ Class Action Lawsuit Officially Concluded
May 09 2022 - 7:10AM
Business Wire
Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE: FPI) (the “Company” or “FPI”)
today announced that the deadline to appeal has passed with no
appeal filed by the plaintiff from the U.S. District Court’s April
6, 2022 ruling dismissing the class action lawsuit against the
Company and certain of its executives.
The class action suit has been pending since July 2018, when
FPI, its management, and its shareholders were targeted by short
sellers who knowingly printed false information about the Company
to manipulate its stock price and profit from the resulting price
drop. The author of those attacks has since admitted the falsity of
numerous allegations, which were at the core of the class action
case.
The Company expects the plaintiff’s decision to forego an appeal
of the district court’s order will result in the dismissal of two
shareholder derivative lawsuits associated with the underlying
class action lawsuit, according to statements from the plaintiffs’
attorneys in recent court filings in those cases. FPI will continue
to pursue its claims against the hedge fund that was involved in
the short-and-distort attack.
“This class action litigation has hung over our Company for a
long time, forcing us to spend considerable resources to defend
ourselves from baseless accusations,” said FPI Chairman and CEO
Paul Pittman. “Today, we can finally close this chapter and move on
to doing what we do best – investing in high-quality farmland
across the country and delivering for our shareholders.”
The court’s ruling in FPI’s favor can be read in its entirety at
http://ir.farmlandpartners.com/Judgment.
About Farmland Partners Inc.
Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate
company that owns and seeks to acquire high-quality North American
farmland and makes loans to farmers secured by farm real estate. As
of the date of this release, the Company owns and/or manages
approximately 185,000 acres in 19 states, including Alabama,
Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota and
Virginia. We have approximately 26 crop types and more than 100
tenants. The Company elected to be taxed as a real estate
investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes,
commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2014.
Additional information: www.farmlandpartners.com or (720)
452-3100.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the federal securities laws, including, without
limitation, statements with respect to expected yields on acquired
farmland, our outlook, proposed and pending acquisitions and
dispositions, the potential impact of trade disputes and recent
extreme weather events on the Company's results, financing
activities, crop yields and prices and anticipated rental rates.
Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use
of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "should," "could,"
"would," "predicts," "potential," "continue," "expects,"
"anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes,"
"estimates" or similar expressions or their negatives, as well as
statements in future tense. Although the Company believes that the
expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based
upon reasonable assumptions, beliefs and expectations, such
forward-looking statements are not predictions of future events or
guarantees of future performance and our actual results could
differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking
statements. Some factors that might cause such a difference include
the following: general volatility of the capital markets and the
market price of the Company's common stock, changes in the
Company's business strategy, availability, terms and deployment of
capital, the Company's ability to refinance existing indebtedness
at or prior to maturity on favorable terms, or at all, availability
of qualified personnel, changes in the Company's industry, interest
rates or the general economy, adverse developments related to crop
yields or crop prices, the degree and nature of the Company's
competition, the timing, price or amount of repurchases, if any,
under the Company's share repurchase program, the ability to
consummate acquisitions or dispositions under contract and the
other factors described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in
the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2021, and the Company's other filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking information
presented herein is made only as of the date of this press release,
and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or
revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in
assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or
otherwise.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220509005246/en/
Phillip Hayes phayes@farmlandpartners.com
Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI)
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