Con Ed Uncertainty: Court of Chancery Questions Enforceability of Merger Agreement Provisions Allowing Target to Seek Lost Merger Premium

In an October 31, 2023 decision sure to spook practitioners, the Court of Chancery called into doubt the enforceability of “Con Ed provisions.”  Con Ed provisions, so-named for the 2005 Second Circuit decision prohibiting stockholders from pursuing a $1.2 billion merger premium damages claim, create a path for the target’s recovery of lost merger premium if the buyer breaches and a deal fails.

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