US court takes no immediate action on Bear deal

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - A Delaware Chancery Court judge made no immediate ruling on Monday on a shareholder effort to stall the sale of Bear Stearns Cos Inc BSC.N to JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

Vice Chancellor Donald Parsons said at a court hearing he plans to issue a written ruling on the matter in the next several days. He did not set a specific date.

Two Michigan pension funds had asked the court for a temporary restraining order to block the sale of 95 million Bear Stearns shares to JPMorgan.

That stock sale, set to close around April 8, would give JPMorgan a 39.5 stake in Bear Stearns and would help it gain shareholder approval for the planned buyout of the investment bank.

The court was "very well aware of the importance for expedition ... but also well aware of the importance of the merits of the case," Parson said at the hearing.

Attorneys for Bear Stearns and JPMorgan said the case should be transferred to New York, where a similiar class action suit is set to be heard at a May 8 hearing.

Defending against two cases in two different jurisdictions would be wasteful and burdensome, the lawyers said.

Pamela Tikellis, a lawyer for pension funds, said the case should be heard in Delaware since the proposed merger of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan presents "new, subtle nuances of law."

The Chancery Court's history and experience of ruling on merger cases on companies incorporated in Delaware makes it the proper forum for hearing this case, rather than New York where the companies are headquartered, Tikellis said in the hearing.