GRAPEVINE, Texas, April 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — United Development Funding IV (“UDF IV” or the “Trust”) announced today that District Judge David L. Evans of the 48th Judicial District Court (the “Court”) ruled in favor of the Trust in the matter of NexPoint Advisors, L.P. (“NexPoint”) vs. United Development Funding IV, Et al.
On July 8, 2020 NexPoint sent a letter that was publicly filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to UDF IV’s Board of Trustees seeking to take over management of the Trust. The Trust responded in a measured way to protect its investors by seeking to determine the true intentions of NexPoint and its affiliates, including James Dondero, NexPoint’s portfolio manager (collectively “NexPoint/Dondero”) and requested NexPoint/Dondero identify any affiliation it may have with known bad actors who seek to harm UDF IV and its shareholders, including J. Kyle Bass, Hayman Capital and its affiliates (collectively “Bass/Hayman”) and its possible involvement with Bass/Hayman and the illegal “short and distort” fraud scheme perpetrated against UDF.
UDF IV requested this information on July 22, 2020, and again on August 31, 2020 and September 8, 2020, but to date NexPoint/Dondero has not provided the requested information. Instead, on October 9, 2020 NexPoint filed a defamation lawsuit against the Trust intending both to silence UDF IV from expressing its views further and intimidate UDF IV so that it stops asking questions that NexPoint/Dondero do not want to answer.
On December 14, 2020 the Trust filed a motion to dismiss NexPoint’s claims against it pursuant to the Texas Citizen’s Participation Act (“TCPA”). NexPoint filed a response in opposition to UDF IV’s motion to dismiss, and the Trust filed a reply on March 24, 2021, arguing that (1) UDF IV’s statements involved matters of public concern that are not subject to the TCPA commercial speech exception and (2) UDF IV did not make actionable false statements about NexPoint.
On March 31, 2021 the Court heard oral arguments and on April 27, 2021 issued a ruling in favor of UDF IV. Counsel for the Trust has been asked by the Court to prepare a proposed order by May 13, 2021 and to circulate a proposed order to NexPoint’s counsel by May 6, 2021 for approval as to form only, stating the issue of attorney’s fees has not been determined and is in the process of being scheduled.
About United Development Funding IV
United Development Funding IV is a Maryland real estate investment trust. UDF IV was formed primarily to generate current interest income by investing in secured loans and producing profits from investments in residential real estate. Additional information about UDF IV can be found on its website at www.udfiv.com. UDF IV may disseminate important information regarding its operations, including financial information, through social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to United Development Funding IV and the Tender Offer that are based on management’s current expectations and estimates and are not guarantees of future performance or future events. Such forward-looking statements generally can be identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” or other similar words. Readers should be aware that there are various factors, many of which are beyond the Trust’s control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements made in this correspondence. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this correspondence. Forward-looking statements in this document speak only as of the date on which such statements were made, and the Trust undertakes no obligation to update any such statements that may become untrue because of subsequent events.
