United Development Funding IV Recommends Shareholders Reject Hedge Fund NexPoint’s Fourth Extended Hostile Tender Offer; Provides Supplemental Information
May 4, 2021
GRAPEVINE, Texas, May 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — United Development Funding IV (“UDF IV” or the “Trust”) announced that it recommends Trust shareholders reject the fourth extended unsolicited tender offer made by hedge fund NexPoint Strategic Opportunities Fund (“NexPoint”) to purchase all Trust common shares (the “Shares”) for $1.10 per share (the “Tender Offer”).
Shareholders should be aware that they are not required to tender any Shares to NexPoint. To reject the Tender Offer, a shareholder should simply ignore it. A shareholder that has already agreed to tender its Shares pursuant to the Tender Offer may withdraw any tender of shares up until May 14, 2021 (as described in the Tender Offer materials). A copy of this press release will be posted to the Trust’s website at www.udfiv.com. The Trust requests that a copy of this press release also be included with all distributions of materials relating to the Tender Offer.
The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) has reviewed the terms and conditions of the fourth extended Tender Offer, considered other information relating to the Trust’s portfolio of assets, current financial condition and future opportunities and evaluated various other factors it deemed relevant, such as its knowledge of NexPoint and its affiliates, including NexPoint Advisors, L.P., Highland Capital Management, L.P. (“Highland”) and NexPoint’s portfolio manager, James Dondero (collectively, “NexPoint/Dondero”). As explained in the Trust’s press releases dated December 17, 2020, January 8, 2021, January 19, 2021, February 16, 2021 and March 18, 2021 the Board believes that NexPoint’s extended tender offer price of $1.10 per share represents a substantial discount to the current value of the Trust. In addition, the Board has serious concerns that the principal interests of NexPoint/Dondero and their affiliates in taking over the Trust may be to shield the participants in the illegal short and distort fraud scheme perpetrated against the Trust by notorious hedge fund manager J. Kyle Bass. These concerns and the Board’s additional reasons for recommending that shareholders reject the Tender Offer are described further in the press releases mentioned above, which are available at www.udfiv.com.
The Board also considered more recent developments in the Highland bankruptcy case before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas (the “Court”), including, among other things: the Court’s decision to approve Highland’s amended reorganization plan despite the objections of Highland’s former CEO James Dondero; the Court’s statement that Highland’s motion for an order requiring James Dondero to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for violating a previously issued temporary restraining order deserved “careful consideration”; and the pendency of a motion by Highland to sanction James Dondero and certain of his affiliates for being vexatious litigants. It also considered a court order entered in a separate litigation associated with the Highland bankruptcy between Highland and Nexpoint and Nexpoint Advisors temporarily enjoing Nexpoint and Nexpoint Advisors from, among other things, conspiring with Dondero and his affiliates to interfere with Highland’s business. The Board further observed that none of these significant events regarding the Highland bankruptcy proceeding have been disclosed to Trust shareholders by NexPoint in the Tender Offer materials. The Board additionally considered that the 48th Judicial District Court ruled in favor of the Trust granting the Trust’s motion to dismiss the defamation lawsuit brought by NexPoint Advisors, L.P. against the Trust. In the Board’s opinion, this lawsuit is further evidence of James Dondero’s willingness to waste NexPoint assets, resources and focus on vexatious litigation.
Source: GlobeNewswire
