Samsung Electronics faces a bumpy road on its way to the automotive tech highway through its mega-billion acquisition of Harman International, as shareholders of the American auto parts maker filed a class lawsuit to derail the merger.

On Nov. 14, Samsung announced the acquisition of the world’s largest car electronics company for $8 billion, the biggest in its history.

According to a court in Delaware on Friday, shareholders filed the lawsuit against Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal and the board on Jan. 3, alleging that they did not act in good faith processing the deal with the South Korean tech giant.

The shareholders, headed by Robert Pine, argued that the Harman board put the value of the company too low and agreed on unfavorable conditions, causing shareholder damages. There was a fundamental flaw in the deal, and Harman agreed not to look for competing bidders during talks with Samsung, they said.

Earlier in December, U.S. hedge fund Atlantic Investment Management, which owns a 2.3 percent stake in Harman, said it would vote against the deal because the buyout price was too low.

The deal that would allow Samsung to become a leading component supplier in the global automobile market was approved by the boards of the two companies and is subject to approval by Harman shareholders.

Samsung agreed on $112 per share, 28 percent higher than the price on November 13, and 37 percent higher than the 30-day average.

Some say Samsung’s top management will have to meet with Harman shareholders to justify the deal, but Samsung heir Lee Jay. Y has been banned from overseas travel in connection with prosecutors’ investigations implicating him as a suspect for a bribery charge related to the July 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates.

The Harman deal will go through if over 50 percent of Harman’s shareholders agree in the shareholders meeting, expected in the first quarter this year.

By Song Sung-hoon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]