Genesco Turns Over Documents

Nashville, Tenn., Genesco Inc. has turned over more than 1.5 million pages of internal documents in its lawsuit to force The Finish Line Inc. to complete a buyout.

The $1.5 billion buyout, agreed to in June, had been scheduled to close last month, but Indianapolis-based Finish Line and investment bank UBS AG stalled on the deal because of concerns over Genesco’s financial performance after the $54.50-per-share buyout deal was announced.

Finish Line had complained that Genesco was denying access to key internal records and company officers. But Finish Line and UBS said in a court filing Thursday that they have had few problems with voluntary handover of information from Genesco since a Nashville judge earlier this month scheduled the case to go to trial the week of Dec. 10.

Genesco has also agreed to allow four of its executives to be interviewed by the defendants’ lawyers on Oct. 29, according to the filing.

Genesco’s lawsuit accuses UBS and Finish Line of developing “buyer’s remorse” following an upheaval in the credit market.

UBS and Finish Line, meanwhile, say they want to determine whether Genesco’s worse-than-expected second quarter was a temporary setback or an indicator of a long-term problem—known as a “material adverse effect”—that would allow it to get out of the deal.