According to the Complaint, First Connecticut Bancorp, Inc. ("First Connecticut" or the "Company") is the holding company of Farmington Bank, which has 25 branch locations throughout central Connecticut and western Massachusetts.
On June 19, 2018, First Connecticut issued a press release announcing the Proposed Transaction, pursuant to which First Connecticut will merge with and into People’s United Financial, Inc., with People’s United continuing as the surviving corporation.
The Complaint alleges that on July 25, 2018, in order to convince First Connecticut’s public common shareholders to vote in favor of the Proposed Transaction, Defendants authorized the filing of a materially incomplete and misleading Form S-4 Registration Statement (the “Proxy”) with the SEC, in violation of Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act. In particular, the Complaint alleges that the Proxy contains materially incomplete and misleading information concerning: (i) financial projections for First Connecticut, People’s United, and the synergies expected to result from the Proposed Transaction; (ii) the valuation analyses performed by First Connecticut’s financial advisor in support of their fairness opinion; and (iii) the background process leading to the Proposed Transaction.
On November 7, 2018, the Court issued an Order consolidating cases and appointing Lead Plaintiff and Counsel. The consolidated cases shall be captioned "In re First Connecticut Bancorp, Inc." Lead Plaintiff filed an amended Complaint on November 30. Lead Plaintiff filed a consolidated amended Complaint on December 17. Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the amended Complaint on January 29, 2019. On September 24, the Court issued an Order denying Defendants' Motion to Dismiss.
Plaintiff filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on February 4, 2021. Defendants filed a Cross Motion for Summary Judgment on March 5. On April 9, the Court issued an Order granting Defendants' Cross Motion for Summary Judgment and entered Judgment in favor of the Defendants on all counts of the consolidated amended Complaint. On May 10, Lead Plaintiff filed a notice appealing the Court's judgment in favor of Defendants.
On June 1, 2023, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the District Court.