Investors Sue Tyco Over Planned Company Breakup

A group of investors that are part of an existing lawsuit against Tyco International have filed a new lawsuit to prevent a planned company breakup.

The investors include the LA State Employees' Retirement System and Voyager Asset Management. The two groups filed the complaint on February 16, 2006 in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire.

The investors are also part of a lawsuit seeking damages from Tyco related to its recent accounting scandal. The overstatement of income by more than $5.8 billion spanned from December 1999 to June 2002.

According to the lawsuit, Tyco has failed to provide any assurance "that it will take steps to ensure that the ability of class members in the securities action to satisfy an aware of damages will not be compromised by the proposed reorganization."

The Tyco board approved a plan to split Tyco into three separate publicly traded companies on January 13. The companies will be Tyco Healthcare, Tyco Electronics and a combination of Tyco Fire and Security with Engineered Products and Services.