'Cooper can claim over 4 times of $112.5 m break fee'

It, however, said that it will pursue the USD 112.5 million break fee that Apollo owes it, along with other damages. Cooper claimed the deal was terminated because Apollo was no longer or it was clear that Apollo was not going to close the transaction and that banks were not going to finance the transaction.

Amit Tandon, Founder & MD Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IIAS), said: “It does not come as a surprise for us. When we said the deal wasn’t good for the investors, to a large extent we were also echoing the view of a large set of institutional investors. A lot investors would surely be relieved that the deal has not gone ahead.”

Speaking on the legal liablity Apollo may face, Hitesh Jain, ALMT Legal, said: “In the US, damages runs into millions. People can claim over 4-5 times over the break fee to intimidate the other party, whether you will get that amount realistically that’s a different thing. I won’t be surprised if Cooper claims over 4 times of the $112.5 million break-up fee.”

Rohan Shah, Managing Partner, Eco Laws Practice (ELP) said that its very tough to estimate the amount of damages that Cooper can claim from Apollo apart from the $112.5 million. “I don’t think there will be any cap in terms of what they claim. The issue is given the nature of the clause what will support them in a claim beyond the $112.5 million and what is the level of proof that they will have to meet. Because somewhere they will have to make out a case of malafide or fraud, sometheing in the nature of giving themselves the ability to reach a mutiple of what is already mentioned.”