Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of Opera Limited (NASDAQ:OPRA) American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) between July 27, 2018 and January 15, 2020, including purchasers pursuant and/or traceable to the Company’s July 27, 2018 initial public offering (the “Class Period”). The case is captioned Brown v. Opera Limited, No. 20-cv-00674, and is assigned to Judge John G. Koeltl. The Opera class action lawsuit charges Opera and certain of its officers with violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Opera securities during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in the Opera class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff can select the law firm of its choice and acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the lawsuit. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery of the Opera class action lawsuit is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff of the Operaclass action lawsuit or have questions concerning your rights regarding the Operaclass action lawsuit, please visit our website by clicking here or contact Brian Cochran at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at bcochran@rgrdlaw.com. Lead plaintiff motions for the Opera class action lawsuit must be filed with the court no later than March 24, 2020.
Opera provides mobile and personal computer web browser applications. In recent years, Opera has increasingly invested in fintech businesses, providing mobile loan and financing applications which are offered on Google’s Play Store marketplace as downloadable applications.
On August 9, 2018, Opera completed its initial public offering, issuing 9.6 million ADSs priced at $12 per share, raising approximately $115.2 million in proceeds before underwriting discounts and commissions and other expenses. The complaint alleges that the offering documents for the IPO contained materially misleading statements and were not prepared in accordance with the federal securities laws. Similar misrepresentations were allegedly made throughout the Class Period. Specifically, the defendants failed to disclose that: (i) Opera had significantly overstated market opportunities and expected growth trends for its browser applications; (ii) Opera’s businesses relied on predatory lending practices; (iii) these facts, once revealed, were reasonably likely to have a material negative impact on Opera’s financial prospects, especially with respect to its lending applications’ continued availability on Google’s Play Store; and (iv) as a result, the defendants’ statements violated the federal securities laws.
On January 16, 2020, Hindenburg Research published a report asserting that it had “a 12-month price target of $2.60 on Opera, representing a 70% downside.” Among other issues, Hindenburg reported: (i) that Opera’s “browser market share is declining rapidly, down ~30% since its IPO”; (ii) that Opera was involved in “predatory short-term loans in Africa and India, deploying deceptive ‘bait and switch’ tactics to lure in borrowers and charging egregious interest rates ranging from ~365-876%”; (iii) that Opera’s lending business applications were “in black and white violation of numerous Google rules” aimed at “curtail[ing] predatory lending”; and (iv) that consequently, Opera’s entire lending business was “at risk of disappearing or being severely curtailed when Google notices” Opera’s alleged violation of its rules.
On this news, the price of Opera ADSs fell $1.69 per share, or more than 18%, to close at $7.33 per share on January 16, 2020.
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading law firms representing investors in securities litigation. With 200 lawyers in 9 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. For six consecutive years, ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked the Firm in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report as one of the top law firms in the world in both amount recovered for shareholders and total number of class action settlements. Robbins Geller attorneys have helped shape the securities laws and have recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved victims. Beyond securing financial recoveries for defrauded investors, Robbins Geller also specializes in implementing corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Robbins Geller attorneys are consistently recognized by courts, professional organizations, and the media as leading lawyers in the industry. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.
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