Opinion ID: 6800376
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Material Developments Statement

Text: Appellants essentially allege that the Material Developments Statement was false and misleading because Appellees had not disclosed the vadadustat developments to MTS but indicated in the Proxy that they had shared all material developments with it. As an initial matter, Appellants’ claim based on the Material Developments Statement is not plausibly alleged. As the District Court concluded, Appellants’ allegation that “Keryx management was aware of material relevant developments or matters related to Akebia that may affect the Merger and that were omitted or remained undisclosed to MTS” is conclusory. JA77 ¶ 10; see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (“Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.”). Although Appellants make factual allegations concerning 9 Keryx’s knowledge of the vadadustat development, its meetings with MTS, and its instructions that MTS use the Adjusted Projections, their factual allegations do not sufficiently support the inference that Keryx did not disclose the vadadustat developments to MTS. Even assuming this claim was plausibly alleged, it otherwise fails because the Material Developments Statement is neither false nor misleading. The Proxy explicitly disclosed that Keryx’s Adjusted Projections were prepared before May 30, 2018. Thus, the Material Developments Statement solely represents what MTS assumed at the time that Keryx gave MTS the projections. See OFI Asset Mgmt., 834 F.3d at 501 (reasoning that, when a proxy disclaimed the accuracy of financial projections included therein, these projections represented only that they “were, in fact, the projections that [the defendant] provided to [the counterparty] and the financing bank during the negotiation of the deal”). Appellants do not dispute that MTS made these assumptions, so their claims regarding the Material Developments Statement fail for an additional reason.