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Royal Ahold
Following a Baltimore federal court's 2006 precedent-setting global class certification, Hilsoft Notifications designed and oversaw the entire implementation of the first securities litigation global notification program in the In re Royal Ahold Securities and “ERISA” Litigation. The most comprehensive and broadest notification in securities litigation history, the program was the first to document the "reach" of notice among shareholders.
Hilsoft provided evidence that more than 85% of shareholders were reached with notice, not only in the U.S. but also in the Netherlands, where shareholders were predominantly located, and showed that high percentages were reached in the other key shareholding countries. Additionally, we created a vigorous nominee and broker notice mailing plan. We combined the measured success of the mailing effort with the modern style media program that we designed, planned, negotiated, and placed to target beneficial holders of Ahold stock and ADRs. We also provided notice expertise and an adequacy testimony.
In Ahold, Hilsoft created the form and content of all the notices, and in doing so, broke the plain language and "designed to be noticed" barrier in securities litigation. In collaboration with the FJC, Hilsoft created the "model" plain language notices for securities cases, which is posted at www.fjc.gov. The cover letter that Hilsoft created for the Royal Ahold mailing also modeled the cover letter Hilsoft designed with the FJC to conform to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act requirements. The Ahold notice documents, which were translated into 16 languages, were the first in a major securities case to follow these high standards. The Court's final approval demonstrates the value of notice expertise. Judicial Comments
