Cosmetics maker Revlon Inc settled its dispute with shareholder Fidelity Management & Research Co regarding a class action lawsuit related to a share exchange offer from 2009.

Photo: Revlon

Fidelity Management, which owns about 2.06 percent of the company according to Thomson Reuters data, will be paid $19.9 million and will drop all related claims in return.

The investment adviser and its subsidiaries controlled almost 90 percent of Revlon shares that were traded in the offer that sought to issue preferred shares in lieu of Class A common shares.

The lawsuits alleged, among other things, that the defendants should have disclosed along with the offer information regarding the company's results for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2009.

The lawsuits were bought against Revlon, its then directors and MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc - the holding company of its chairman and largest shareholder Ronald Perelman.

Revlon, which competes with L'Oreal, Estee Lauder Cos Inc and Elizabeth Arden Inc, said it recorded a charge related to the settlement, which will be paid from insurance proceeds.

The lawsuits are pending in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County and the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

The company said this settlement has no effect on the pending actions other than to eliminate Fidelity from any future certified class actions.

Revlon has recorded an additional charge of $6.7 million with respect to estimated costs of resolving the pending litigations with the other plaintiffs, including the company's estimate of any additional payment to Fidelity.