NEW YORK, June 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Ironridge Global IV, Ltd., an institutional investor in micro-cap public companies, today announced that Ironridge fully prevailed on the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Petition for Preliminary Injunctive Relief Pending Arbitration brought by NewLead Holdings Ltd. (NEWL). After Ironridge was given an opportunity to respond at a hearing, the U.S. District Court ruled completely in favor of Ironridge, dissolved the TRO, and denied NewLead's request for a preliminary injunction. The court ruled in Ironridge's favor on every issue, stating in relevant part as follows:
"Ironridge has submitted account statements for all its sales of NewLead shares, which show no short sales and account for all shares it has received. And Ironridge showed that NewLead miscalculated when it found that Ironridge exceeded the 10% cap on April 16-its only evidence of short selling. There is no evidence Ironridge has ever made a short sale of NewLead stock."
"The parties dispute whether one of the measures of the daily trading limit is assessed by dollar volume or number of shares. NewLead's CFO acknowledged that 'the difference between calculating the trading limits on a dollar value as opposed to a share number basis is de minimis.' Five de minimis breaches cannot give rise to a claim for material breach permitting NewLead to terminate the share subscription agreement."
"NewLead's CFO conceded Ironridge could not be responsible for any decline in NewLead's stock price. NewLead's share price has declined precipitously over a period of years. Ironridge had nothing to do with any of those declines."
"And Ironridge is responsible for only a small portion of NewLead's share dilution."
On May 9, 2014, Ironridge initiated arbitration proceedings against NewLead before JAMS International, for NewLead's multiple material defaults under $27.5 million in Series A Preference Shares issued to Ironridge on March 4, 2014, for which Ironridge fully paid $25.0 million in cash and notes. NewLead failed to honor conversions and pay dividends and embedded dividend liability due on the Preference Shares.
On June 3, 2014, NewLead filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York a Petition for Temporary Restraining Order and Injunction In Aid of International Arbitration Proceedings to prevent the conversion of any Preference Shares of NewLead into NewLead's common shares pursuant to conversion of its outstanding Preference Shares solely held by Ironridge as well as the issuing of any of the Company's common shares to Ironridge. In an improper attempt to justify its own breaches, NewLead falsely alleged that Ironridge violated limited technical provisions of the agreement.
At a fully evidentially hearing on June 9, 2014, Ironridge proved that NewLead's allegations that Ironridge breached its contractual obligations - which were based entirely on rank speculation without a shred of evidence - were all demonstrably false. Ironridge submitted indisputable trading records conclusively proving that Ironridge has never engaged in short selling, market manipulation or selling above agreed volume limits.
Ironridge will continue to fully live up to all of its obligations under the agreement.
Ironridge was represented by the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
About Ironridge Global IV, Ltd.
Ironridge Global IV, Ltd. is an institutional investor, making direct equity investments in micro-cap public companies. Ironridge is a British Virgin Islands business company that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ironridge Global Partners, LLC. The fund has entered into more than 60 equity financing transactions in the last three years, ranging from a quarter to $25 million each. Ironridge seeks to be a long-term financial partner, assisting public companies in financing growth and expansion by supplying innovative funding solutions and flexible capital. For more information on Ironridge Global Partners, please visit its website at http://www.ironridgeglobal.com.
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SOURCE Ironridge Global IV, Ltd.
