BALA CYNWYD, Pa., July 25, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP announced today that it recently filed lawsuits against Sunglass Hut International, InterVoice Brite, Inc., Emex Corporation, and Caliper Technologies Corporation, for violations of the federal securities laws.
If you purchased the securities of any of the companies listed below during the class period, you may be a member of the class and have until the date specified to move the court to become the lead plaintiff. For more information on a particular lawsuit and to view the complaint, you may visit our Website at www.sbclasslaw.com. To learn more about your rights and interests in these cases and your ability to potentially recoup your losses, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway directly at (888) 299-7706 (toll free) or (610) 667-7706; fax number (610) 667-7056 or by e-mail at info@sbclasslaw.com.
SUNGLASS HUT INTERNATIONAL (Nasdaq:RAYS) (Class Period: Tender Offer dated 03/05/01 by Luxottica Group S.p.A. and Shade to Sunglass Hut International ("Sunglass") shareholders in exchange for $11.50 net cash per share). The complaint charges Sunglass and certain of its officers and directors with violations of Section 14(d) of the Exchange Act and Rule 14d-10 promulgated thereunder. Specifically, the complaint alleges that pursuant to the Tender Offer, and as an integral part thereof, Defendants offered and paid greater consideration to James N. Hauslein ("Hauslein"), the Chairman of the Board of Sunglass, than to other tendering Sunglass shareholders, as an inducement to Hauslein to support the Tender Offer and to tender his approximately 1.7 million Sunglass shares to Shade. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that the additional consideration to Hauslein, which was never offered nor paid to other Sunglass shareholders, was in the form of a lucrative Consulting Agreement entered into between Hauslein and Luxottica, under which Luxottica allegedly agreed to pay Hauslein $15 million over a five-year period. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Pursuant to the court's instructions, the lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than August 1, 2001.
INTERVOICE BRITE, INC. (Nasdaq:INTV) (Class Period: 10/12/99 - 06/06/00). The complaint charges InterVoice and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. The Company was created through the acquisition of Brite Voice Systems, Inc. ("Brite") for $164.4 million in cash and stock in the 2ndQ F00. Specifically, the complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants made materially false statements about InterVoice's business, its financial results, the success of its integration with Brite and its prospects. As a result, InterVoice's stock was inflated to as high as $38.75 per share. The Individual Defendants took advantage of this inflation, selling 525,916 shares of their InterVoice stock for $13.4 million in proceeds.
On 6/6/00, InterVoice shocked the market, revealing that it would report a loss of $0.03 to $0.05 and revenues of only $67-$68 million for the 1st Q F01 rather than the EPS of $0.22 and revenues of $89 million defendants had led the market to expect. Defendants blamed the shortfall on sales people who had begun leaving the Company in the months prior to this disclosure, some of which were unhappy with the integrated Company. Defendants also claimed they had implemented new guidance from the SEC, Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 101, Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements ("SAB 101") earlier than planned. These revelations caused InterVoice stock to plummet to as low as $5.75 per share before closing at $6.125, a decline of 85% from its Class Period high on volume of 15.5 million shares. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than August 4, 2001.
EMEX CORPORATION (Nasdaq:EMEX) (Class Period: 04/09/01 - 05/23/01). The complaint charges Emex and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that on April 9, 2001, Emex announced that it had obtained $100 million in project financing to build the first of a series of its highly-touted commercial plants. Defendants credited the success of the deal to "the efforts of Credit Suisse First Boston," a prestigious Wall Street investment firm. In reaction to the news, the price of Emex common stock soared 13% on April 10, 2001. On May 23, 2001, Dow Jones Newswires broke the news that, in fact, Credit Suisse First Boston ("CSFB") was not involved in securing Emex's financing. Furthermore, according to the May 23 article, a spokesperson for CSFB stated that CSFB turned down Emex's financing proposal. On May 30, 2001, Emex issued another press release in which it revealed that Fieldstone, Inc., not CSFB, was the financial institution behind the $100 million financing. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than August 6, 2001.
CALIPER TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION (Nasdaq:CALP) (Class Period: 12/14/99 - 12/06/00) On or about December 14, 1999, Caliper commenced an initial public offering of 4,500,000 of its shares of common stock at an offering price of $16 per share (the "Caliper IPO"). In connection therewith, Caliper filed a registration statement, which incorporated a prospectus (the "Prospectus") with the SEC. The complaint alleges that the Prospectus was materially false and misleading because it failed to disclose, among other things, that: (i) Credit Suisse had solicited and received excessive and undisclosed commissions from certain investors in exchange for which Credit Suisse allocated to those investors material portions of the restricted number of Caliper shares issued in connection with the Caliper IPO; and (ii) Credit Suisse had entered into agreements with customers whereby Credit Suisse agreed to allocate Caliper shares to those customers in the Caliper IPO in exchange for which the customers agreed to purchase additional Caliper shares in the aftermarket at pre-determined prices. As alleged in the complaint, the SEC is investigating underwriting practices in connection with several other initial public offerings. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than August 6, 2001.
Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP has prosecuted shareholder class actions for more than 14 years and has recovered more than $1 billion for investors.
If you are a shareholder in any of the companies listed above and would like to be a lead plaintiff in one of these securities class actions, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway at (888) 299-7706.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca.