NEW YORK, March 15, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all purchasers of Tyco International, Ltd. ("Tyco" or the "Company") (NYSE:TYC) securities between December 13, 1999 and February 5, 2002, inclusive (the "Class Period").
The complaint charges defendants with violations of federal securities laws by, among other things, issuing a series of materially false and misleading press releases concerning Tyco's financial results and business prospects. Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants concealed that the Company paid nearly $8 billion for more than 700 acquisitions that were never disclosed to the public or in the Company's public filings (the "Undisclosed Acquisitions"). Defendants further concealed that the Undisclosed Acquisitions cost over 100% more than the transactions that had been disclosed, based on a price calculated as a multiple of the acquired company's revenues. Then, contrary to defendants' misrepresentations that the Company had ample free cash flow and that its emergency backup credit lines would remain undrawn, on February 5, 2002, the last day of the class period, Tyco announced that it was forced to exit the commercial paper market and draw down the full $5.9 billion from emergency backup credit lines in order to pay for $4.5 billion in outstanding commercial paper debt (the "Emergency Debt"). Defendants later admitted that, inter alia, increased borrowing costs and fees respecting the Emergency Debt "could cut 45 cents (per share), or $900 million, from Tyco's previous estimate of the company's fiscal 2002 earnings of $7.4 billion or $3.70 a share." In response to the Emergency Debt announcement by the Company, the trading price of Tyco's shares fell to $23.10 per share -- a Class Period low and a decrease of almost 70% from the value of Tyco's shares at the time that certain of the Individual Defendants made their Class Period insider sales -- with trading volume of 69,398,800 shares.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of himself and all other individual and institutional investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Tyco securities between December 13, 1999 and February 5, 2002, excluding defendants and their affiliates.
If you wish to obtain information concerning joining this action you can do so under the "Join Lawsuit" section of our website at www.faruqilaw.com
If you purchased Tyco securities during the Class Period, you may, not later than April 8, 2002, move the court to serve as lead plaintiff of the class, if you so choose. In order to serve as lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements. If you wish to discuss this action, or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact:
ANTHONY VOZZOLO, ESQ. FARUQI & FARUQI, LLP 320 East 39th Street New York, NY 10016 Telephone: (877) 247-4292 or (212) 983-9330 e-mail: Avozz@faruqilaw.com www.faruqilaw.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca