MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 28, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Charles H. Johnson & Associates announces that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of Centerline Holding Company ("Centerline" or the "Company") (NYSE:CHC) publicly traded securities during the period March 12, 2007 through December 28, 2007 (the "Class Period").
If you are a member of the proposed Class, you may move the Court to serve as a lead plaintiff for the Class on or before March 18, 2008. You do not need to be a lead plaintiff in order to share in any recovery that may be obtained.
The Complaint alleges that Defendants issued a series of materially false and misleading statements about Centerline's business model and financial condition, including statements concerning its portfolio of tax-exempt first mortgage bonds, which generated the majority of the Company's revenues and supported the Company's $1.68 per share annual dividend. Defendants' statements concealed from the investing public that Defendants were in the midst of structuring a sale of the Company's mortgage revenue bond portfolio to a third party. On December 28, 2007, Centerline shocked the financial markets with a press release announcing that the Company had sold its $2.8 billion tax-exempt affordable housing bond portfolio to a third party and, in the process, transformed the Company's business model to a pure asset management firm. As a result of this transaction, the Company disclosed that it would be slashing its annual dividend from $1.68 per share to only $0.60 per share.
Even more shocking was the revelation that Defendants had entered into a related party transaction with a company owned by certain Company insiders, also named as defendants, called The Related Companies, L.P. ("TRCLP"), whereby TRCLP agreed to provide Centerline $131 million in financing, in exchange for 12.2 million shares of newly-issued convertible preferred stock that will pay Company insiders an 11% dividend. In reaction to this news, the price of Centerline stock plummeted from $10.27 per share on December 27, 2007, to close at $7.70 per share on December 28, 2007, representing a 25% single-day decline, on unusually heavy trading volume of 4,152,688 shares.
If you purchased Centerline Holding Company securities during the Class Period, or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights with respect to this matter, please contact:
Neal Eisenbraun, Esq. (cjohnsonlaw@gmail.com)
Charles H. Johnson & Associates
2599 Mississippi Street
New Brighton, MN 55112
(651) 633-5685