February 2, 2016 (Shareholders Foundation) - An investigation on behalf of investors, who currently hold shares of Firstmerit Corp (NASDAQ:FMER), was announced concerning whether the takeover of Firstmerit Corp. by Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is unfair to NASDAQ:FMER stockholders.

The investigation by a law firm concerns whether certain officers and directors of Firstmerit Corp breached their fiduciary duties owed to NASDAQ:FMER investors in connection with the proposed acquisition.

On January 26, 2016, Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: HBAN) and FirstMerit Corporation (NASDAQ: FMER) jointly announced the signing of a merger agreement under which FirstMerit Corporation, the parent company of FirstMerit Bank, will merge into Huntington in a stock and cash transaction. Based on the closing price of Huntington's common shares on January 25, 2016 of $8.80, the total transaction value is approximately $3.4 billion, including outstanding options and other equitylinked securities.
Shareholders of FirstMerit Corporation will receive 1.72 shares of Huntington common stock, and $5.00 in cash, for each share of FirstMerit Corporation common stock. The per share consideration is valued at $20.14 per share based on the closing price of Huntington common stock on January 25, 2016.

However, given that at least one analyst has set the high target price for NASDAQ:FMER shares at $24.78 per share, the investigation concerns whether the offer is unfair to NASDAQ:FMER stockholders. More specifically, the investigation concerns whether the Firstmerit Board of Directors undertook an adequate sales process, adequately shopped the company before entering into the transaction, maximized shareholder value by negotiating the best price, and acted in the shareholders' best interests in connection with the proposed sale.

Shares of NASDAQ:FMER reached as high as $21.45 per share in June 2015, respectively as high as $22.72 per share in early 2015.

On February 1, 2016, NASDAQ:FMER shares closed at $19.37 per share.