When Ignyta Inc. (NASDAQ:RXDX) was bought by Roche Holding Ltc (OTCQX:RHHBF), the December 22 news brought on a huge spike in Ignyta’s stock price, which went from $15.55 to $26.85 that day. But it also brought on an investigation into whether or not Ignyta’s Board of Directors had performed their proper fiduciary duty to the company’s shareholders, led by the securities firm Monteverde & Associates PC. As it turns out, this investigation was only the beginning.
Two more securities firms have started investigations of their own of Ignyta, namely Rigrodsky & Long, PA and Levi & Korsinsky, LLP. Both of these investigations are looking into the same issues as Monteverde & Associates PC: Did Ignyta’s Board of Directors breach their fiduciary duties to stockholders by failing to adequately assess the company before agreeing to enter into the deal with Roche and is Roche underpaying for Ignyta shares as a result? Currently, Roche is paying $27.00 per Ignyta share but should it be paying more? All three investigations are still ongoing and so far there has been no news to indicate in which way the firms are leaning.
The initial investigation by Monteverde & Associates did little to damage the stock hike experienced by Ignyta, the Roche buyout generating enough excitement to outweigh any negativity the investigation may have generated. It seems that even the announcement of these two additional investigations is having very little effect on Ignyta’s stock. The stock is still pretty much where it was when Roche bought Ignyta. Friday’s market saw Ignyta stock close at $26.70, which only puts it down $0.05, or 0.19%, from Thursday’s closing price of $26.75, and even that is only $0.10 lower than what the Roche announcement caused in spike.
The fact that there are now three separate investigations going on into Ignyta leads me to believe there is enough cause for the investigations themselves; however, it seems that nothing short of any actual criminal findings is going to be enough to bring Ignyta down.
Featured Image: twitter
