This article is the third in a multi-part series based on the Lowndes white paper, “Selling & Acquiring Distressed Real Estate in Florida.” Each installment will examine key legal and strategic considerations for acquiring...more
Privately held businesses are rarely bought or sold “as is.” Buyers of most businesses usually expect the sellers to make a comprehensive set of “representations” or “reps.” In other words, statements about the business that...more
Representation & Warranty Insurance (“RWI”) is specialty insurance coverage purchased for M&A deals which provides third-party insurance coverage for certain breaches of the Seller’s representations and warranties in the...more
Indemnification is a key component in virtually every M&A deal, serving as a detailed and nuanced contractual risk allocation device between the Buyer and Seller. Though drafted in a two-way fashion, indemnity operates in the...more
Net Working Capital (“NWC”) targets and purchase price adjustments are a nearly universal reality in private M&A deals, though often a neglected and misunderstood topic. To greatly simplify, the NWC target is the minimum...more
Every year, analysts at Allen & Overy review M&A data collected by the firm over the previous 12 months of deals. The analysts look for trends, year-on-year changes and differences in practice across the globe. Recently, we...more
Market Trends: What You Need to Know As shown in the American Bar Association's Private Target Mergers and Acquisitions Deal Point Studies: - The use of separate escrows for purchase price adjustments has been increasing on...more
Many purchase/sale transactions require payments into escrow. Sometimes counsel for one of the parties acts as escrow agent to keep the fees down. Providing such a service has its risks. In Alexander O&G, LLC v. Nomad...more
The Predicament - One challenge encountered in M&A deals is how to bind all shareholders of the target company to all deal terms. For private companies with few shareholders, this is not much of a challenge. However,...more
Marcellus Shale drilling was taking off, and the owner of an oil and gas service company fielded a buyout offer from a Wall Street private equity firm. Golden opportunity, right?...more
In this frothy, seller-driven M&A market, representation and warranty insurance can help bridge the gap between a buyer and seller and facilitate deal-making. In M&A transactions, a seller seeks to limit the extent to...more