A lawsuit was filed by investors of H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) in effort to stop the proposed takeover and NYSE:HNZ stockholders should contact the Shareholders Foundation.

San Diego, CA -- (SBWire) -- 02/27/2013 --An investor in H.J. Heinz Company (HNZ) shares filed a lawsuit to block the proposed takeover of H.J. Heinz Company by an investment consortium comprised of Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital at $72.50 per HNZ share.

Investors who purchased shares of H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) prior to February 4, 2013, and currently hold any of those NYSE:HNZ shares have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail(at)shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.

On February 14, 2013, H.J. Heinz Company announced that it has entered into a merger agreement to be acquired by an investment consortium comprised of Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital. Under the terms of the agreement shareholders of H.J. Heinz Company will receive $72.50 in cash for each NYSE:HNZ share of common stock they own, in a transaction valued at $28 billion, including the assumption of Heinz’s outstanding debt.

However, the plaintiff alleges that the $72.50-offer is unfair to HNZ stockholders and undervalues the company. The plaintiff says that HNZ stock rose nearly 12% since the beginning of 2012 and the company boosted sales to $11.7 billion in fiscal 2012, a gain of 8.8% from the year before. In addition, most recently H.J. Heinz Company reported strong operating results for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, ended October 28, 2012.

In fact, H.J. Heinz Company’s financial performance improved lately. For instance, H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) reported that its Total Revenue rose from over $10.01 billion for the 52 week period that ended on April 29, 2009 to over $11.64 billion for the 52 week period that ended on April 29, 2012. Furthermore, shares of H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) grew from $31.23 per share in March 2009 to as high as $61 per share on February 7, 2013.

According to the complaint, the proposed acquisition is being driven by the Board and Company management in order to secure liquidity for their illiquid holdings in H.J. Heinz Company. The plaintiff claims that from the sale of their illiquid block of shares in the proposed acquisition, the Board of directors and Company management will receive more than $400 million.

In addition, the plaintiff alleges that that to ensure Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, and only Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, acquire H.J. Heinz Company, defendants included several deal protection devices in the Merger Agreement, such as a no-solicitation, an information and matching rights, and massive $1.4 billion termination fee provision, that ensure that no competing offers will emerge for the Company.

Those who are current investors in H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ), have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.

Contact:
Shareholders Foundation, Inc.
Joelle Day
3111 Camino Del Rio North - Suite 423
92108 San Diego
Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554
Fax: +1-(858)-605-5739
mail@shareholdersfoundation.com