With every new year comes reflection and resolutions. But as we go to press well into January, it is worth a reminder that studies show nearly 90% of New Year’s resolutions will have already failed by the end of the month....more
There’s an old saying – “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” While this mantra may help bruised egos on the playground, it’s of no use in M&A disputes. Three recent Delaware Court of Chancery...more
Most M&A agreements include specific performance provisions that allow either party, under certain circumstances, to seek to have a court force the other party to comply with its contractual obligations. In M&A deals, a...more
Just like the romantic union of global pop superstar Taylor Swift and Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce, in the business world, combinations of similarly sized companies – or so-called mergers of equals – can yield positive...more
Delaware courts recently issued important decisions that impact M&A dealmakers and lawyers. In this post, we dive into two cases that serve as a reminder that Delaware grounds review of corporate actions in statutory...more
In all economic cycles, engaged public company boards and management teams do their homework on the wide range of potential strategic opportunities. In the current market environment, however, we have observed that an...more
The mergers & acquisitions market may wax and wane, but one thing in M&A is consistent from year to year: The Delaware courts issue opinions that impact M&A dealmaking. And this year is certainly no exception – Delaware...more
Tech M&A in 2022 was a tale of two halves. The year started off with a bang, with mega-deals such as Microsoft’s pending $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and...more
Although 2022 saw a general decline in M&A activity in the life sciences industry compared to 2021’s frenetic pace (when deal volume was up 52% from 2020), life sciences deal flow in 2022 on balance remained strong despite...more
General trends in life sciences M&A Although the COVID-19 pandemic that defined 2020 continued to shape much of the life sciences industry in 2021, the way that it did was markedly different. While 2020’s M&A landscape was...more
In a string of seminal decisions from 2017 through 2019 (DFC Global, Dell and Aruba), the Delaware Supreme Court re-shaped appraisal jurisprudence, in each case by overturning the Court of Chancery for failing to give...more
Chancellor McCormick’s opinion in Snow Phipps Group, LLC, et al. v. KCake Acquisition, Inc., et al. (Del. Ch. April 30, 2021) is 125 pages long, but she helpfully digests the holding in a single sentence on page 3: “Chalking...more
General Trends in Life Sciences M&A -
If 2019 was the year of life sciences mega-deals, 2020 was the year of COVID-19, as the global pandemic permeated every aspect of the dealmaking landscape, with the life sciences...more
In the months following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a slew of parties filed lawsuits in US courts relating to M&A transactions that were signed prior to March 2020 and that buyers were seeking to terminate as a result...more
In a May blog post we discussed several initial observations regarding the dozens of M&A transactions that were signed prior to March 2020 and that were in jeopardy as a result of COVID-19. Since that post, the Delaware...more
As previously reported in this Cooley PubCo post, on May 21, the SEC adopted final amendments to the financial disclosure requirements for the acquisition and disposition of businesses. One change relating to the use of...more
With last Wednesday’s categorization by the World Health Organization of COVID-19 as a pandemic, schools, places of business and other venues throughout the United States quickly closed in-person locations and moved to remote...more
In the wake of record-setting volume and value metrics in 2018, practitioners eyed the 2019 deal market with healthy skepticism. Despite a slight downward tick in momentum and overall deal statistics, 2019 remained a robust,...more
2019 was a banner year for billion-dollar life sciences M&A transactions. A wave of big-ticket transactions by global pharmaceutical companies drove life sciences M&A activity to its fourth-largest year on record in 2019,...more
M&A practitioners have long advised boards of directors that the Delaware courts have never found that the events or circumstances in a particular transaction met the contractual standard of having a material adverse effect...more
On April 20, 2018, the Ninth Circuit ruled that shareholder claims for false or misleading tender offer disclosures under Section 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 require a mere showing of negligence, rather than...more
What’s on tap for 2018 M&A? A recap of 2017 trends and the Cooley outlook on this year’s dealmaking: -
Buying Innovation: Retention and Non-Competes. For both old-line companies and tech giants, innovation is the name of...more
2/9/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Appraisal ,
Appraisal Rights ,
CFIUS ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Innovation ,
Life Sciences ,
Mergers ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test
Post-employment non-compete covenants are generally invalid in California, with certain limited but important exceptions like when a business or associated goodwill is sold and the buyer – as part of the deal – wants to...more
The vast majority of private company acquisitions contain some type of purchase price adjustment to account for any changes in certain financial metrics (including working capital) of the target between a specified reference...more
Last month, the FTC and DOJ issued a set of antitrust guidelines addressing certain employment and compensation practices that are most likely to occur in the high-tech and healthcare industries where highly-skilled employees...more