South Financial Group Inc. (TSFG)

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Five shareholders of The South Financial Group have filed suit against the company, its directors and TD Bank Financial Group, alleging the merger agreement in which Canada-based TD Bank would acquire Greenville-based South Financial is unfair and contains a "shockingly low" offer price.

H. Lynn Harton, South Financial's president and chief executive officer, told The Greenville News that "our belief is that there is no merit to the suit."

The suit alleges that the proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission "conceals and omits material information" that shareholders would need to evaluate the proposal, and that TD's offering price of 28 cents a share represents a "great disparity, and apparent unfairness" to TSFG shareholders, given the company's book value of $2.72 per share.

Without more information, South Financial's shareholders can't cast "an informed vote" on the proposed merger and the vote should be suspended, the suit says.