The Delaware Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a Delaware Court of Chancery ruling that payday lender DFC Global Corp. was sold for less than what it was worth in 2014, instructing Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard to reconsider the weight he gave to the deal price in the closely watched appraisal case.

The high court's ruling set aside Bouchard's decision last year to value the publicly traded company's shares at $10.21 apiece, well above the $9.50 per share investors had received in exchange for approving the merger with private equity buyer Lone Star Fund VIII. At the time, the ruling was seen as a major win for a group of hedge funds that opposed the deal and instead went to court in a bid to squeeze more cash out of the deal.

But on appeal, the case also became a flash point in an ongoing debate in Delaware over the role deal price should play in determining fair value, with DFC's attorneys and a group of corporate law scholars calling for the courts to defer to the transaction price resulting from an arms-length, conflict-free sale process.