Unigraphics Investors Sue, Claim Undervaluing

Stockholders filed seven lawsuits in one day against Unigraphics Solutions Inc. on claims that the planned $170-million buyout of the Cypress maker of computer-aided design software undervalues the shares.

The lawsuits, filed Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court, followed the previous day’s announcement that the company’s majority shareholder, Electronic Data Systems Corp., would buy the 14% of Unigraphics it doesn’t own for $27 a share. The stock soon rose above $29. It closed Friday at $29.65, up 30 cents a share on the New York Stock Exchange.

In one of the lawsuits, Masseo Investments Ltd. contends directors of Unigraphics, while legally obligated to auction the company for the best price, are controlled by EDS, the second-largest U.S. computer-services provider.

EDS, based in Plano, Texas, said it also agreed to buy Structural Dynamics Research Corp., a Milford, Ohio, design software maker, for $950 million, and plans to combine it with Unigraphics.