Freeport-McMoRan Inc on Thursday agreed to pay $137.5 million to resolve a lawsuit claiming that executives and directors had conflicts of interest that caused the natural resources company to overpay significantly for two oil and gas companies in 2013.The accord resolves shareholder derivative litigation over Freeport's purchases of Plains Exploration & Production Co and McMoRan Exploration Co for roughly $9 billion.Shareholders led by a group of pension funds and the union-owned Amalgamated Bank will receive settlement funds, net of unspecified legal fees and other costs, as a special dividend.Freeport also agreed to take steps to ensure directors' independence, and limit "golden parachutes" to departing executives in future acquisitions.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. is a United States-based natural resources company with a global portfolio of mineral assets, including copper, gold, and molybdenum, in addition to oil and gas resources. Shares of FCX fell by 0.53% or $-0.1/share to $18.64. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $17.85 and as high as $39.32. On average, 15804300 shares of FCX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 13745708.
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