Martin Marietta-Vulcan ruling explained further

Bloomberg reports that the Delaware Supreme Court has expanded on a May 31 ruling, concluding in a 42-page explanatory opinion that a lower court properly found Martin Marietta Materials Inc. could not proceed with a hostile takeover of Vulcan Materials Co.

The justices wrote in the opinion released Tuesday that, “It is undisputed that the confidentiality agreements in this case were true confidentiality agreements [violated by Martin Marietta Materials].” As Bloomberg reports, the justices further write that the agreements “did not categorically preclude Martin from making a hostile takeover bid for Vulcan. What they did was preclude Martin from using and disclosing Vulcan’s confidential, nonpublic information.”

Martin Marietta and Vulcan Materials sued each other over the hostile bid, and in a May 4 opinion after a non-jury trial, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Leo Strine Jr. decided Martin Marietta did not comply with confidentiality provisions and said it could not pursue Vulcan for four months.

Martin Marietta eventually appealed, and the Delaware Supreme Court agreed with Strine after a May 31 hearing.