Opinion ID: 2793871
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: ABN AMRO Acquisition Statements

Text: Plaintiffs allege that RBS made false statements regarding the ABN AMRO acquisition in its December 6, 2007 press release and conference call, as well as during the February 28, 2008 earnings conference call. These statements, described above and including, for example, ʺ[t]he integration of ABN AMRO is off to a promising start,ʺ ʺ[our] positive view . . . has been confirmed,ʺ ʺwe are happy we bought what we thought we bought,ʺ App. at 1375, 1378, were ‐ 18 ‐ misleading according to plaintiffs, because by December 2007, ABN AMRO was suffering significant losses and the acquisition was ʺan unmitigated disaster for RBS,ʺ App. at 1378. We agree with the district courtʹs determination that these statements were inactionable puffery. Statements of general corporate optimism, such as these, do not give rise to securities violations. See Rombach v. Chang, 355 F.3d 164, 174 (2d Cir. 2004) (ʺcompanies must be permitted to operate with a hopeful outlookʺ); see also ECA, 553 F.3d at 206. Statements of corporate optimism may be actionable securities violations if ʺthey are worded as guarantees or are supported by specific statements of fact, or if the speaker does not genuinely or reasonably believe them.ʺ In re IBM Sec. Litig., 163 F.3d at 107 (citations omitted). The statements here are not worded as guarantees and there are no allegations that defendants did not reasonably believe them.