April 07, 2015 (Shareholders Foundation) - An investor, who currently holds shares of Square 1 Financial Inc (NASDAQ:SQBK), filed a lawsuit in effort to stop the proposed takeover of Square 1 Financial Inc. by PacWest Bancorp.
The plaintiff alleges that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties owed to NASDAQ:SQBK stockholders by agreeing to sell Square 1 Financial Inc. too cheaply via an unfair process to PacWest Bancorp

On March 2, 2015, PacWest Bancorp and Square 1 Financial, Inc. (Nasdaq:SQBK) announced the signing of an agreement and plan of merger whereby PacWest will acquire Square 1 in a transaction valued at approximately $849 million. Under the terms of the Agreement, Square 1 stockholders will receive 0.5997 shares of PacWest common stock for each share of Square 1 common stock. The total value of the per share merger consideration, based on the closing price of PacWest common stock on February 27, 2015, of $45.84 is $27.49 per NASDAQ:SQBK shares.

However, the plaintiff claims that the proposed consideration NASDAQ:SQBK shareholders will receive is grossly inadequate and undervalues Square 1 Financial Inc. Square 1 Financial Inc reported that its Net Income rose from $5.35 million in 2011 to $49.83 million in 2014. Shares of Square 1 Financial Inc (NASDAQ:SQBK) increased from $17.33 per share in October 2014 to as high as $28.70 per share on February 26, 2015. In addition, the plaintiff claims that the process is also unfair to NASDAQ:SQBK stockholders.