Bank of America Corp. on Friday appeared poised to settle legal claims brought by brokers from Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., the New York investment bank B of A is acquiring.
B of A, Merrill Lynch, and the investment bank's board, had been named as defendants in several lawsuits designed to impede the sale.
The $1.83 trillion-asset Charlotte company said in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the defendants on Friday agreed to enter a memorandum of understanding tied to a possible settlement of claims in the Delaware Court of Chancery and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The lawsuits, filed in the weeks following B of A's Sept. 15 agreement to buy Merrill Lynch, allege that members of Merrill's board breached their fiduciary duties of in agreeing to the merger and that B of A "aided and abetted" the action. Primarily, the lawsuits have sought to derail the acquisition.
As part of the memorandum of understanding, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch made additional information available that wasn't disclosed in the original proxy statements filed with the SEC between Oct. 2 and Oct. 29.
Bank of America has said it expects to complete the acquisition this quarter.
