Trump Antitrust Appointees Finally Set: What to Expect
Leadership at the top of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission appears to be set – nine months into the Trump Administration – with the confirmation of Makan Delrahim as Assistant Attorney General at DOJ and the announcement of the intention to nominate Joseph Simons to […]
The Art of Drafting Milestones for an Earn-Out
Former stockholders of SARcode Bioscience were recently denied a claim that they were entitled to be paid $425 million in milestone payments under a merger agreement. The decision provides an anecdotal lesson in drafting milestones and suggests that the more technically prescribed milestones may be more difficult to meet, even […]
M&A Guide to CFIUS: How the Review Process Can Impact Your Transaction
Article 1 of 4 The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS” or “the Committee”) has received much attention over the past several months for its role in blocking two separate Chinese acquisitions of US semiconductor companies. In September 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting Canyon Bridge Capital […]
M&A Lessons Learned from the Blocked Chinese Acquisition of Lattice Semiconductor
Last week, President Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting the acquisition of Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (Lattice), a US computer chip manufacturer, by a Chinese investor. The president’s order blocking the transaction was based on a recommendation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency committee […]
Non-Competes for California Employees in M&A Deals: Don’t Fudge It
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 prohibit certain sellers from competing with their former business. Consequently, buyers of California-based businesses generally […]
Martha Stewart Decision Draws Roadmap for Controller Sales to Third Parties
A transaction involving a controlling stockholder on both sides of the deal presents a clear conflict of interest that will result in heightened scrutiny under the “entire fairness” standard of review if later challenged. However, there is not always a conflict when the controller stands on just one side of […]
Chicago Bridge Reversal Reiterates Need for Consistent Accounting in Working Capital True-Up
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 date (or target) and the closing date. For a variety of reasons (including the inability to predict […]
Regulatory Hurdles Facing Mergers With Chinese State-Owned Enterprises
Acquisitions by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) of companies in the United States (US) and European Union (EU) have grown in recent years. Trade and cross-border investment has increased and Chinese SOEs have extended their reach beyond their domestic market. Those acquisitions, together with joint ventures between Western companies and Chinese […]
Monetizing an Earn-Out – Does That Make It a “Security?”
In life sciences/medical technology transactions, buyers and sellers often use milestone-based and sometimes royalty-based contingent consideration to compensate sellers for assets that are in various stages of development from clinical- to development-stage to product commercialization.[1] In licensing transactions, there is an established secondary market through which licensors may monetize their […]
New Pubcos Should Consider Defensive Health in Light of ISS/GL Recommendations
ISS and Glass Lewis are continuing to apply special scrutiny to certain corporate governance provisions of “newly public” companies (generally, companies that have gone public in 2014 or later). See our December 2016 client alert. In short, the latest policies (which have evolved over the last few years) provide that […]