July 23, 2025
Investors in energy company EQT Corp. have gotten an initial green light for their $167.5 million settlement to end claims the company overstated the benefits of its $6.7 billion merger with Rice Energy, drawing what’s purported to be the largest shareholder settlement in the Western District of Pennsylvania closer to a close.
In a Tuesday order, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Colville granted preliminary approval to the settlement deal, finding that he would “likely be able to finally approve the settlement … as being fair, reasonable, and adequate to the class.”
EQT investors, led by the Government of Guam Retirement Fund, Northeast Carpenters Annuity Fund and Northeast Carpenters Pension Fund, sought approval for the settlement deal in June, telling the court that the parties reached the agreement after six years of litigation and three mediation sessions.
The investors touted the settlement’s $167.5 million cash recovery as “notable as it is (by far) the largest securities class action recovery ever in the history of this district and the 14th largest in the history of the Third Circuit.”
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The proposed class is represented by Steven J. Toll, Daniel S. Sommers, S. Douglas Bunch, Christina D. Saler and Benjamin F. Jackson of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Salvatore J. Graziano, Adam H. Wierzbowski, Jesse L. Jensen and Robert Kravetz of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, and Michael A. Comber of Comber Miller LLC.
Read EQT Investors’ $167.5M Deal to End Merger Suit Gets 1st OK.