As previously announced, on August 12, 2020, Montage Resources Corporation (“Montage”) entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Southwestern Energy Company, a Delaware corporation (“Southwestern”), pursuant to which, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein, among other things, Montage will merge with and into Southwestern, with Southwestern continuing as the surviving company (the “Merger”).
In connection with the Merger, Montage filed a definitive proxy statement (the “Proxy Statement”) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on October 6, 2020. As disclosed in the Proxy Statement, and as is common in transactions of this type, several lawsuits have been filed by purported stockholders challenging the completeness and accuracy of the disclosures in Southwestern’s registration statement on Form S-4 dated September 15, 2020, which included a preliminary version of the Proxy Statement and a preliminary prospectus of Southwestern, which was subsequently amended and declared effective by the SEC on October 6, 2020, and seeking to compel additional disclosures in the Proxy Statement prior to the Montage stockholders meeting and/or closing of the transaction.
The supplemental disclosures contained below should be read in conjunction with the Proxy Statement, which is available on the Internet site maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov, along with periodic reports and other information Montage and Southwestern file with the SEC. To the extent that the information set forth herein differs from or updates information contained in the Proxy Statement, the information set forth herein shall supersede or supplement the information in the Proxy Statement. All page references are to pages in the Proxy Statement, and terms used below, unless otherwise defined, have the meanings set forth in the Proxy Statement.
Litigation Related to the Merger
Following the announcement of the Merger Agreement, as of the date of this Current Report on Form 8-K, six complaints have been filed by purported Montage stockholders challenging the Merger; of those six complaints, three were filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, one in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, one in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and one in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York. Two of those six complaints also name Southwestern as defendant. The complaints are captioned as follows: Dinardo v. Montage Resources Corporation, et al., No. 1:20-cv-08416 (S.D.N.Y.); Raul v. Montage Resources Corporation, et al., No. 1:20-cv-08619 (S.D.N.Y.); Waldrop v. Montage Resources Corporation, et al., No. 1:20-cv-04995 (E.D.N.Y.); Wolf v. Montage Resources Corporation, et al., No. 1:20-cv-01324-UNA (D. Del.); Gordon v. Montage Resources Corporation, et al. (Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York); and Widrick v. Montage Resources Corporation, et al. No. 1:20-cv-09101 (S.D.N.Y.). We refer to these actions collectively as the “Shareholder Actions.”
Southwestern and Montage believe that the Shareholder Actions are meritless. Southwestern and Montage do not believe, with respect to the complaints in which such company is named, that supplemental disclosures are required or necessary under applicable laws. However, in order to minimize the expense of defending the Shareholder Actions, and without admitting any liability or wrongdoing, Southwestern and Montage are supplementing the Proxy Statement with the information set forth below (the “Supplemental Disclosures”). Southwestern, Montage, and the other named defendants deny that they have violated any laws or breached any duties to Montage’s stockholders or otherwise. Southwestern and Montage are providing the Supplemental Disclosures solely to eliminate the burden and expense of litigation. Nothing in the Supplemental Disclosures should be deemed an admission of the legal necessity or materiality of any Supplemental Disclosures under applicable laws.