It took a blitz on Maryland’s legislature for Corvex Management LP and Related Fund Management LLC to win its 15-month battle to replace the management and trustees of office landlord CommonWealth REIT, a real estate investment trust.
In April 2013, CommonWealth’s board rejected a $2.9 billion buyout by Corvex and Related, represented by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Eduardo Gallardo. That same month, Gallardo’s team learned that as a takeover defense, CommonWealth was backing a bill that would allow CommonWealth’s board to unilaterally eliminate shareholders’ right to remove directors, despite contrary language in the company’s charter. The bill was going to committee the next day.
