Empire State IPO Opponents Ask Court to Rule Buyout Illegal

Opponents of taking New York City’s Empire State Building public asked an appeals court to declare illegal a provision that could have seen some holders of ownership units paid $100 a unit if they refused to go along with a planned initial public offering.

Steven Meister, an attorney representing dissenting unit holders who opposed including the building in a real estate investment trust, asked the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division in Manhattan to reverse Justice O. Peter Sherwood’s ruling in April denying a request to declare the buyout provision unlawful under state corporation law.