PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sovereign Bancorp, Inc.
(NYSE: SOV) today announced that the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County,
Pennsylvania has sanctioned Relational Investors LLC for filing a false
affidavit and two false verifications. As a penalty, the Court dismissed,
without prejudice, Relational's complaint seeking access to Sovereign's books
and records and ordered Relational to pay Sovereign's reasonable attorney's
fees and costs incurred in litigating the false affidavit issue. The Court
denied Sovereign's petition to hold Relational and Ralph Whitworth in
contempt.
In ordering Relational to pay Sovereign's attorney's fees and costs, the
Court concluded:
" ... the evidence establishes that Relational's conduct in filing a
false Affidavit and two false Verifications with this Court was without
sufficient or justifiable grounds and served only to advance Relational's
perceived tactical advantage in its proxy solicitation campaign with
Sovereign Bancorp shareholders, thereby requiring Sovereign Bancorp to
respond 'publicly' as well by filing the instant Petition, as amended.
As such, it clearly justifies the award of counsel fees and costs being
requested by Sovereign Bancorp..."
Regarding Relational's attempt to correct its false Affidavit, the Court
stated:
"Moreover, one might ask, that while Relational on January 17, 2006, was
correcting the averments that were untrue when given, thereby evidencing
some concern about setting the record straight ... why didn't Relational
take just a few more minutes to correct its repeated allegation that it
still did not have the shareholder list, which it had admittedly received
four days earlier on January 13, 2006?"
The Court also stated:
" ... while Relational argues that the denial of its Motion for
Peremptory Judgment and/or dismissal of its Complaint in Mandamus would
constitute an unduly harsh sanction, we find that such action is
necessary to deter the future filing of false affidavits or
verifications, as well as to make certain that we have an accurate,
reliable and truthful record which we may someday be compelled to review
and also, if for no other reason than to put Relational on notice
throughout the proceedings which will more than likely follow that the
rules of Court are to be complied with or penalties will be imposed."
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), is the parent company
of Sovereign Bank, a $64 billion financial institution with more than 650
community banking offices, over 1,000 ATMs and approximately 10,000 team
members with principal markets in the Northeast United States. Sovereign
offers a broad array of financial services and products including retail
banking, business and corporate banking, cash management, capital markets,
trust and wealth management and insurance. Sovereign is the 18th largest
banking institution in the United States. For more information on Sovereign
Bank, visit http://www.sovereignbank.com or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. and its directors and officers may be deemed to
be participants in the solicitation of proxies from shareholders of Sovereign
in connection with the election of directors at the 2006 annual meeting of
shareholders. Information regarding the names of Sovereign's directors and
executive officers and their respective interests in Sovereign by security
holdings or otherwise is set forth in Sovereign's proxy statement relating to
the 2005 annual meeting of shareholders, which may be obtained free of charge
at the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov and Sovereign's website at
http://www.sovereignbank.com. Additional information regarding the interests
of such potential participants will be included in the Proxy Statement and
other relevant documents to be filed with the SEC in connection with
Sovereign's 2006 annual meeting of shareholders.
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. will file a Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A with
the SEC in connection with its 2006 annual meeting of shareholders, which,
when filed, will be available free of charge at the SEC's website at
http://www.sec.gov. Investors and security holders are advised to read
Sovereign's Proxy Statement, when available, and the other materials to be
filed by Sovereign related to the proxy solicitation, when available, because
they will contain important information. Investors and security holders may
obtain a free copy of the Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A and all other
related material to be filed by Sovereign with the SEC (when they are filed
and become available) free of charge at the SEC's website at
http://www.sec.gov or by contacting Sovereign's proxy solicitors, Innisfree
M&A Incorporated at 1-888-750-5834 or Mackenzie Partners, Inc. at 1-800-322-
2885. Sovereign also will provide a copy of these materials without charge at
the Investor Relations section of its website at http://www.sovereignbank.com.
SOURCE Sovereign Bancorp, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.sovereignbank.com
CONTACT:
FINANCIAL CONTACTS: Mark McCollom,
+1-610-208-6426, mmccollo@sovereignbank.com, or Stacey Weikel,
+1-610-208-6112, sweikel@sovereignbank.com; or MEDIA CONTACT: Ed
Shultz, +1-610-378-6159, eshultz1@sovereignbank.com, all of
Sovereign Bancorp
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