Like common stockholders, holders of preferred stock may exercise appraisal rights. The extent of what those rights actually entail, however, may be far more limited than what common shareholders may experience. As a general rule, preferred stock has the same appraisal rights as common stock, but “[u]nlike common stock, the value of preferred stock is determined solely from the contract rights conferred upon it in the certificate of designation.” Shaftan v. Morgan Joseph Holdings, Inc., 57 A.3d 928, 942 (Del. Ch. 2012) (citing In re Appraisal of Metromedia International Group, Inc., 971 A.2d 893, 900 (Del. Ch. 2009)).
Delaware courts have consistently ruled that if the company’s certificate of designation is clear in providing just what the preferred stock is to receive upon a merger, then the certificate controls and effectively preempts the rights of the preferred stockholders to seek appraisal. Thus, as Delaware Chancery has held, when the terms of preferred stock “clearly describe[d] an agreement between the [preferred stockholders] and the company regarding the consideration to be received” by the stockholders in the event of a specific type of merger, and that specific type of merger occurred, the stockholders were deemed to have waived their appraisal rights and were only entitled to the compensation provided for in the governing certificate. Shaftan 57 A.3d at 928 (citing In re Appraisal of Ford Holdings, Inc. Preferred Stock, 698 A.2d 973, 978 (Del. Ch. 1997)). Put another way, where the certificate of designation is clear in “contractually establish[ing] the metric for valuing the preferred shares in the event of a merger,” the court need not entertain competing valuation models and undertake the customary appraisal analysis; instead, the court simply views the valuation of the preferred stock “through the defining lens of its certificate of designation, unless the certificate is ambiguous or conflicts with positive law.” Metromedia, 971 A.2d at 900.
In the case of unclear or indirect drafting in the certificate, the courts will not deprive stockholders of their statutory right to judicial appraisal of their preferred shares.