Mergers and Acquisitions

COURSE ON MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Continuing Professional Development, Projects and Research (CPD) Department in collaboration with

RACHIER & AMOLLO ADVOCATES

Why a Course on Mergers & Acquisitions?

■ M & A has become a way of life for today’s business.■ M & A provides a mechanism for exploiting new financial opportunities

created (e.g. Oraro & Company and HH&M experiment).■ M & A offers a useful tool for long-term survival in difficult times

(Competition may be too strong, there could be liquidity challenges).■ M & A as a strategic component for long term growth (A company

may use M & A to build its turnover, or to increase its market share and/or profit).

■ M & A as an effective tool for disposing of unwanted or unprofitable business or portion thereof.

Reasons for Undertaking a Merger

■ The underlying principle behind mergers and acquisitions is the 1+1= 3 rule. ■ The value of company A maybe 1 billion shillings while the value of company B is

also 1 billion, but the value of the two companies combined will usually be 3 billion shillings. By merging or joining up the two companies create additional value called “synergy”.

■ The synergy value takes the following forms:

– Revenue: the joint company will realize lighter revenue than the two companies operating independently.

– Expenses: by combining the two companies reduces on their operating expenses.– Cost of Capital: by combining the two companies will experience lower overall

cost of capital.

Reasons for Undertaking an Acquisition

■ Reasons for Buying

– Pursuing a growth strategy. Companies use acquisitions to pursue a strategy for growth in turnover, market share or profits. This may be necessitated by the need to break entry barriers where competition is strong making start-up entry into the market difficult.

– Defensive strategy. Companies sometimes use acquisitions to re-organize themselves within an industry. Acquisition can help eliminate over-capacity or under-capacity.

– Financial opportunities. A company can acquire another company to benefit from financial opportunities that derive from the acquisition, which may include access to finance at a much cheaper cost or benefiting from the tax losses available in the target company.

Reasons for Undertaking an Acquisition Cont’d

■ Reasons for Selling

– The reasons why a company may want to sell of all or some of its business include the following.

– To raise money and perhaps pay off some of its debt.– An attractive offer price.– Desire to sell off the unprofitable part of its business.– Desire to sell off non-core activities that do not fit commercially or strategically

with the rest of the seller’s business.– When a business can realize greater value to its shareholders by being sold rather

than being retained.– When a company lacks funds to invest in developing the business in which case it

becomes more prudent to sell the business and invest the funds elsewhere.

Key Motives Behind M&A

■ To cut costs. Cost cutting is achieved through elimination of redundant services which include human resources, accounting, information technology etc.

■ Positioning. Taking advantage of future opportunities that can be best exploited by the two companies combined.

■ Filing the gap. One company may have a major weakness while the other company may have some significant strength and vice versa.

■ Organizational competence. Acquiring human resources and intellectual capital can help improve innovative thinking and development within the company.

Key Motives Behind M&A Cont’d

■ Broader Market Access. Acquiring a foreign company can give a quick access to emerging global markets.

■ Bargain Purchase. It’s cheaper to buy an existing company an thereafter investing in it than starting from scratch.

■ Diversification. To smooth out earnings and achieve consistent growth by diversifying into new products.

■ Short term growth. Management may be under pressure to turn around sluggish growth and profitability. M & A is therefore made to boost poor performance.

■ Undervalued target. A target company may be undervalued and may therefore represent good investment.

General Reasons for M&A■ Market Penetration – developing new and larger markets for the

companies goods e.g. take over of YU mobile by Safaricom and Airtel.

■ Horizontal Diversification – This happens when a company expands into market for new products or new brands. The company expects to use its existing resources, including distribution channels, marketing skills, management skills etc. to improve performance of the acquired business or is familiar e.g. acquisition of Mashariki Motors by Simba Colt Motors.

General Reasons for M&A Cont’d■ Vertical Integration: This happens when a company combines its

business with or acquires the business of its suppliers or customers. For example when a manufacturer or pharmaceutical products merges with or acquires a company whose main business is distribution of pharmaceutical products.

■ The motivations for vertical integration include the following:– To secure a source of supply for key materials, products or services.– To secure a distribution outlet or a major customer for the company’s

products.– To improve profitability by expanding into the high margin activities of

suppliers or customers.

General Reasons for M&A Cont’d

■ Conglomerate diversification: This happens when two or more companies that operate in diverse fields merge or when one such company acquires the other or others. This is usually to lower the risks because successful performers balance the unsuccessful performers and accordingly the annual profits are stabilized and made more predictable. A company can also buy another company with good prospects at a lower price, improve its profitability and thereafter sell it off at a much higher profit.

General Definitions Applicable to Mergers

■ Broad Definition: Take over of one company by another when the business of the two companies are brought together as one.

■ Narrow definition: Coming together of two companies of roughly equal size, pooling their resources into a simple business.

– Shareholders (owners) of both pre-merger companies have a share in the new merged company.

– Top management of both companies continue to hold positions after the merger.

How To Determine If A Merger Has Taken Place?

– Neither company is portrayed as the acquired or acquirer – Both parties participate in establishing the management structures of

the combined business.– Both companies are sufficiently similar in size that one does not

dominate the other when combined.– All or most of the consideration involves a share swap rather than

cash payment (very little if any cash change hands)

General Definitions Applicable to Acquisitions

■ DEFINITION OF ACQUISITION

– Take over of the ownership and management control of one company by another company either by buying the controlling interest in that company’s stocks or by buying that company’s business operation and its assets often the purchaser consideration for an acquisition is paid largely or entirely in cash.

Full & Partial Acquisition

– Acquisition of companies can be either full or partial. – In full acquisition, the acquirer buys all the stocks of the purchased

company. – In partial acquisition the acquirer obtains a controlling interest

normally over 50% of the equity but less than 100%.

M&A and Joint Ventures

■ DEFINITION OF JOINT VENTURE (JV)

– Joint Venture is a business partnership in which two or more companies agree to invest cash or other assets in a particular project or business activity. The partners can establish a separate company in which they hold stocks in proportion to their investments in the venture. The main purpose of a joint venture is to create a strategic alliance between separate companies with a common interest or complementary skills or experience.

– JVs therefore differ from mergers and acquisitions.

Stakeholders in the M&A Transactions■ The stakeholders in the merger and acquisition transactions may be

summarized as hereunder:

1. The Bidding company (acquiring company)2. The target company (the company to be acquired)3. The investment banks for both the bidding company and the target

company4. The legal advisors for both the bidding company and the target company5. Registrars for either or both companies (if they or any of them is a listed

company)6. International attorneys may need to be appointed and/or consulted in a

cross border takeover7. The banks or investment banks for each company may also appoint their

own advocates

The Role of Stakeholders in M&A Transactions

■ The role of the advisors are to give independent legal financial or other advise to the bidding and/or target company. The shareholders of the bidding company as well as the target company need independent advise on the suitability of the offer and on everything else that appertains to the transactions. The advisors will also help both companies in the event of a hostile takeover to formulate documents or defense documents.

■ Investment banks advise their clients on the price, purchase considerations, strategic and commercial aspects, identifying targets, assessing their commercial values, and procedures for raising finance.

■ Lawyers and attorneys advise on the contractual and other legal issues pertaining to the transaction, regulatory aspects, capital market requirements and procedures, due diligence exercise and the preparation of agreements and memoranda relating to the transaction.

■ Accountants deal with all accounting and tax issues.

Types of Mergers■ Horizontal Mergers: Firms dealing in similar products merge to increase their

market share (e.g. Exxon & Mobil or Oraro & HH&M)

■ Vertical Mergers: Firms along a value chain merge to gain a competitive advantage (e.g. a Pharmaceutical Manufacturer merging with a pharmaceutical distributor – The merger between Merk & Medeo).

■ Conglomerate Merger: Firms in a completely different industries merge e.g. a merger between an oil and gas company and a telecommunication company. This is usually to smooth out fluctuations in earnings, provide consistency for long term growth as well as to promote diversification e.g. General Electric has diversified its business through mergers and acquisitions into areas like financial services and television broadcasting.

Purchase Mergers

– In purchase mergers, one company purchases the other company either through cash or some other from of debt instrument. This type of sale is usually taxable. Companies usually prefer this type merger or acquisition because the acquired assets can be written up to the actual purchase price and the difference between the book price and the purchase price of the said assets can be depreciated annually, thereby reducing the taxes payable consolidation mergers. In this case, a brand new company is formed and the new company. The tax terms are the same as those of a purchase merger.

Types of Acquisitions

■ Acquisitions can be typified either in terms of whether the acquisitions effected through purchase of the assets of the acquired company or the business of the acquired company. Accordingly, there are two main types of acquisitions:

– Purchase Acquisition: where one company acquires all the assets of the other company by cash. The acquired company then remains only as a shell which will then be liquidated. Is taxable. Enjoys certain tax benefits. Three different sub types (direct purchase; one company directly purchases either stocks or assets of another company through cash, triangular forward purchase; occurs when one company wants to purchase another company but does not want to do it directly – because of tax issues or management issues – so a holding company is registered and acquires the shares of the target company; triangular reverse purchase/reverse merger- a subsidiary company is registered. The company being acquired purchases the shares of the subsidiary. This is done for benefits example if it is a listed company it already has its licenses and if you lose it you will have to apply again and you may not get the license).

– Reverse Merger: this refers to a situation where a private company that is doing much better wishes to take over the business of a publicly listed company in a relatively short time, with a view to raising capital through capital market. The private company reverse merges into the public company and together they become an entirely new corporation with tradable shares.

STRUCTURING A M&A TRANSACTION

Structure of a M&A Transaction

Drafting the Letter of Intent

Drafting Cont’d

Drafting Cont’d

Drafting Cont’d

Drafting Cont’d

Drafting Cont’d

Drafting the Merger Agreement

Drafting Cont’d

Drafting Cont’d

Drafting Cont’d

REGULATORY ASPECTS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Regulatory Aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions■ A discussion on the governing and applicable law■ A discussion on the regulatory processes

LEGAL ASPECTS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Legal Aspects■ These issues are usually outlined in the letter of intent once initial

negotiations have been completed. They include the following:

What is the consideration furnished by each party to the transaction? What exactly (in legal terms) is being acquired? Is it physical assets,

shares or intellectual property rights? How is the merger or acquisition to be designed? Will it take the form

of an outright purchase of assets or exchange of stocks? What is the form of payment? Is it paper payment? Cash payment?

Debt payment or a combination of the above? What is the estimated time frame for the merger and which law firm

will be responsible for drawing the agreement?

Legal Aspects Cont’d

What is the scope of the due diligence? Whether the target company will be prohibited from “shopping: itself

during the negotiations What compensation should the bidding company be entitled to in the

event that the merger leaks out and the target company is “in play” and other companies also make a bid to acquire the target company.

What restrictions should be imposed on either company during the negotiations.

What regulatory conditions need to be met? What legal risks exist and how are they to be dealt with?

Preparatory Work

■ Draw M&A Agreement.■ Agree on the specific representations (in the form of conditions and

warranties) to be exchanged by each of the parties.■ What kind of indemnities to be given by each of the parities to the

other.■ What kind of confidentiality agreement should be signed.

FINANCIAL AND TAX ASPECTS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Financial Aspects

■ There are 3 main financial aspects to a merger and/or acquisition.

– Deciding whether the bid will be made for the target company’s shares or assets.

– Deciding on the purchase consideration for the same and the form that it should take.

– Deciding on the financing package to provide the purchase consideration.

Whether To Purchase Assets or Stocks

■ When the bidding company purchases the target company’s shares, it will acquire all the target company’s rights, liabilities and contingent liabilities.

■ If the target company is a subsidiary company, then there may be outstanding inter-company loans to be addressed as a condition for the takeover.

■ If the target company has a large amount of money or assets, then there must be an agreement as to how much of this may be taken up by the target company’s directors

■ Where the bidding company is not purchasing all the assets, then there is need to agree on which assets are not being purchased.

■ Where the bidding company is not taking all the liabilities of the target company then there is need to agree on which liabilities are being taken over.

Tax Implications ■ The decision whether to acquire only assets or shares may be influenced by

tax implications. When the purchaser buys the entire company then:

– The purchaser company’s tax reliefs are also acquired.– The purchaser will also take over the tax liabilities.– The capital gain that is taxable is attributed to the individual shareholders of

the vendor company, and not the vendor company itself.– When the purchaser buys the assets of the target company, then any tax

liability on the capital gain is attributed to the targets company and not the shareholders of the target company.

– The company’s management may therefore need to decide whether these capital gains may be offset to reduce or eliminate its tax liability.

Tax Implications Cont’d

■ Shares or Asset Sale■ Share swaps■ Tax free re-organization■ Conditions■ Income Tax Act, Section 23

Purchase Considerations

■ The purchase price of the acquired company may take any of the following forms:

– Cash – Paper– Mixture of cash and paper

■ Paper is usually in the form of shares in the bidding company, but could also take the form of debenture stock, convertible shares or share warrants.

■ Cash offers could involve shares of the target company being paid out of the bidder’s own funds. To finance large acquisitions, the bidder may borrow funds from the banks or from the capital market (by issuing notes, bonds or commercial paper).

Cash Offers

■ When a company has sufficient cash to finance an offer the takeover is usually done very fast and at low costs, the fees for the lawyers, accountants and other advisers will be settled with relative case.

■ Financing Cash Offers. If the company wishes to finance the takeover with cash but does not have the money, then it can finance itself in the following manner:

– Borrow money from the bank.– Enter into a syndicated loan arrangement– Enter into a cash underwriting arrangement whereby the vendors accept stocks

in the purchasing company which are then immediately with institutional investors who have agreed to give cash for the shares.

Paper Offers

■ EQUITY BASED PAPER OFFERS■ In paper offers the shareholders of the target

company are asked to give up ownership of their shares in the target company and instead take up new shares in the bidding company. This is also known as share for share swap. A share for share swap arrangement will only work if:

– It’s attractive for the vendors to hold equity in the purchasing company.

– The vendors intend to sell the shares in the stock market after the merger transaction is over

– The vendors are willing to sell all the assets and the company will remain only a shell which is the reason why they are keen to receive only a paper offer.

■ DEBT-BASED PAPER OFFERS

■ Debt-based paper offers include the following:

– Debentures– Convertible securities– Share warrants

Mixed Offers

■ Mixed offers are partly cash offers and party paper offers.

Cash or Paper Alternative■ In deciding whether to make a cash or paper offer the following considerations

are material:

i. The bid premium.ii. Liquidity or marketability of the bidder’s shares.iii. Speed and confidentialityiv. Tax issues (where stocks are sold for a higher price than what they were

originally paid for then there is a capital gain tax payable).v. Legal and regulatory issues.vi. Market conditions.vii. Competition from rival bidders.

DUE DILIGENCE IN M&A TRANSACTIONS

Introduction■ Several aspects to conducting a due diligence:

Introduction Cont’d

Evaluate the condition of the physical plant and equipment as well as other tangible and intangible property to be included in the transaction

Analyze the potential antitrust issues that may prohibit the proposed merger or acquisition

Determine compliance with relevant laws and disclose any regulatory restrictions on the proposed transaction; and

Discover liabilities or risks that may be deal breakers.

Stages in the Conduct of Due Diligence in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)■ Pre-offer due diligence■ Post-offer due diligence■ Post M&A due diligence

Historical Context

■ US Securities Act of 1933; • Transferred responsibility onto securities dealers and brokers to fully disclose to

potential investors any material information related to the securities or instruments that they were selling

• The consequence for failing to disclose such information made them liable for criminal prosecution.

• Making full disclosure a legal requirement also meant that the securities dealers and brokers would be left vulnerable to unfair prosecution if they failed to disclose some material fact that they did not have, or could not reasonably have had prior knowledge on.

• Hence, to provide protection to the dealers and brokers the Act included a legal defense which they called the ‘due diligence’ defense.

Due Diligence

■ Due diligence simply means the orderly investigation of a variety of matters pertaining to business. It is part of the preparatory work for a M&A transaction

■ Due diligence also implies that the person conducting the investigation has made a ‘diligent’ effort to obtain all the relevant and meaningful information pertaining to the matter under investigation and has disclosed all of that information in a dutiful and forthcoming manner.

■ Due diligence in mergers and acquisitions transactions is a vital activity and may require several months of intense analysis.

■ Deal making is glamorous; due diligence is not (merging or acquiring firm has to assemble large teams and spend pots of money). A deal may look so good on the face of it but you may not be aware of the hidden flaws.

Importance of Due Diligence:The Case of Safeway Acquires Dominick’s■ Safeway was a leading American grocery chain with a string of successful mergers. ■ In 1998 Safeway acquired Dominick’s. Dominick’s was also a grocery company in the

Chicago area. It had 11% of the market share and Safeway wanted to tap into this 11% market share. Within 5 weeks the deal was sealed. Safeway did not conduct due diligence.

■ After the acquisition, Safeway found out that:a. Dominick’s focus was more on prepared foods, in store cafes and their products did not fit

with Safeway’s emphasis on store brands and cost disciplineb. Dominick’s employees were part of a strong trade union that resisted Safeway’s

aggressive cost cutting plansc. Customers within the Chicago area were unwilling to buy Safeway’s private label goods■ Safeway in Chicago lost the 11% market share to rival Jewel. A thorough due

diligence process would have certainly revealed these problems.

Challenges in the Conduct of Due Diligence■ A survey of 250 international mergers and acquisitions on the exercise

of due diligence conducted by Bain & Company revealed that the due diligence process:

i. Had failed to uncover major problems since half of the companies surveyed found that their targets had been dressed up to look better for the deals

ii. Had led to an overestimation of the synergies available from their acquisitions

■ What then can firms do to improve their due diligence?

PRE OFFER DUE DILIGENCE IN M&A TRANSACTIONS

Pre – Offer Due Diligence in M&A Transactions■ Firms need to investigate at the onset the following 4 basic questions;

1. What are we buying?2. What is the target’s stand alone value?3. Where are the synergies – and the skeletons?4. What’s our walk away price?

1. What are we buying?

■ The merging or acquiring firm must:a. Develop a mental image of the target company by drawing on its

public profile and its reputation within the business communityb. Build its own bottom up view of the target and its industry, gather

information about customers, suppliers and competitors in the fieldc. Investigate around the 4C’s of competition: Customers, Competitors,

Costs and Capabilities

Customers

■ Good due diligence practitioners begin by drawing a map of their target’s market, sketching out its size, its growth rate and how it breaks down by geography, product and customer segment.

■ You must ask questions such as:a. Has the target fully penetrated some customer segments but

neglected others?b. What is the target’s track record in retaining customers?c. What channels does the target use to serve its customers?

Approach the customers directly, do not rely on what the target tells you.

Competitors ■ Good due diligence practitioners always examine the target’s industry presence. How does it

compare to its rivals in terms of market share, revenues, and profits by geography, product and segment

■ Look at the pool of available profits and try to determine whether the target is getting a fair share of industry profits compared with its rivals.

■ Ask yourself:a. Where in the value chain are the profits concentrated?b. Is there a way to capture more?c. Is the target underperforming operationally?d. Are its competitors?e. Is the business correctly defined?f. How will competitors react to the acquisition and how that might affect the business?■ Seek independent advice. Do not rely on what the target tells you.

Costs

■ Successful due diligence teams always ask the following questions about costs:1. Do the target competitors have cost advantage?2. Why is the target performing above/below expectations given its relative market

positon?3. What is the best cost position the acquirer could reasonably achieve?4. How is the target using its experience in the market to drive down costs?5. What are the benefits of sharing costs?6. How to allocate costs going forward?7. Which products and customers really make the money, and which ones should

be dropped?

Capabilities

■ You are not just buying a P&L and a balance sheet but also capabilities such as management expertise.

■ Competencies will determine how well a company will be able to pursue its post acquisition strategy.

■ Ask yourself:a) What special skills or technologies does the target have that create definable

customer value?b) How can it leverage those core competencies?c) What competencies can the company do without?■ Assessing capabilities also involves looking at which organizational structures will

enable the business to implement its strategy most effectively.

The Case of Bridgepoint

■ In 2000, a company called Bridgepoint wanted to buy a fruit company. This fruit company was a leading producer of the fruit mixtures that were used to flavor yogurt. The market was growing for flavored yogurt globally. This company was posting profits and had won praise for its innovativeness and its excellence in R&D and manufacturing.

■ There was nothing suspicious about the company. Bridgepoint wanted to buy this company and expand its business to include ice cream and baked goods.

■ 4 weeks of discussions between Bridgepoint and the fruit company ensued and the deal was called off.

The Case of Bridgepoint Cont’d

■ During those 4 weeks of due diligence it was discovered that:1. While the market for flavored yogurt was growing, profitability in

many markets was falling rapidly2. Consumers surveyed told Bridgepoint that they would be unlikely to

tolerate increased prices3. Bridgepoint researchers found that the fruit company was highly

dependent on sales to only 2 large yogurt producers, both of which seemed intent on achieving control over the entire production process

2. What is the target’s stand alone value■ You must rigorously analyze the target’s books not just to verify the

reported numbers and assumptions but to also determine the business’s true value as a stand alone concern.

Is it Worth It?

■ Be aware of financial trickery: Treating as market sales many of the products the target sells to distributors

which may not represent recurring sales Some companies scatter the marketing function among field offices and maintain

just a coordinating crew at headquarters, which hides the true overhead A company may use the restructuring of a sales network as a way to declare bad

receivables as a onetime expense A manufacturer may decide to postpone its machine renewals a year or two so

those figures won’t be immediately visible in the books. But the manufacturer will overstate free cash flow and possibly mislead the investor about how much regular capital a plant needs.

The Case of Cinven

■ Cinven before acquiring Odeon Cinemas in the UK got analysts to look into local demand patterns and competitor activities, data on attendance, revenues, operating costs, capital expenditure that would be required over the next 5 years.

■ This analysis revealed that the initial market valuation that was given by the target was flawed

■ Estimated of sales growth at the national level were not justified by the local trends. As a result, Cinven was able to negotiate to pay 45 million pounds less than the original asking price.

3. Where are the synergies – and the skeletons? ■ The due diligence process under this head helps to distinguish

between the different kinds of synergies and then to estimate both their potential value and the probability that they can be realized.

■ Consider what are the easiest synergies to be achieved. Creating a map of synergies can be of assistance.

An Example of a Map of Synergies

What about the skeletons in the closet?■ The due diligence team also needs to look out for the skeletons in the

closet of every deal■ For instance, seeing more competition for promotions, talented

employees may leave, sometimes taking customers with them or due to the distractions of a merger, management pays less attention to the core business undermining its results.

■ Example 1: The merger between Southern Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads

■ Example 2: The merger between Kellogg and biscuit maker Keebler

Example 1: The merger between Southern Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads

■ In 1996 Southern Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads merged. Incompatibilities in the company’s information systems combined with other operating conflicts created massive disruptions in rail traffic throughout western United States leading to delayed and misrouted shipments and irate customers.

Example 2: The merger between Kellogg and biscuit maker Keebler

■ In 2001 Kellogg merged with Keebler. The merged companies got distracted by the merger and planning of the post merger business. This resulted in the loss of potential revenues.

4. What’s our walk away price?

■ This is the final leg of a sound pre-offer due diligence process. ■ It is about the price you are willing to pay and to stick to it.

Conclusion

■ There are a variety of methods and principles that are used during the exercise of due diligence.

■ Firms that do a lot of M&A transactions often develop their own in house M&A due diligence expertise, whereas firms that pursue occasional M&A transactions often engage outside professionals to assist them with this highly complex and risky activity.

POST OFFER DUE DILIGENCE IN M&A TRANSACTIONS

Post – Offer Due Diligence in M&A Transactions■ Post – offer due diligence is conducted after the acquisitive company

or the company making the offer has access to internal company information about the target

■ Checklist as a guide.

Checklist (should contain the following categories to base due diligence on)

■ Employees■ Employee benefits ■ Financial results■ Revenue■ Cost Structure■ Intellectual property■ Fixed assets and facilities

Checklist Cont’d

■ Liabilities■ Equity■ Taxes■ Selling activities■ Marketing activities■ Materials management■ Information technology■ Legal issues

POST MERGER OR ACQUISITION DUE DILIGENCE

Post M&A Due Diligence

■ Restructuring ■ Financial performance■ Processes and challenges■ Compliance■ Dispute resolution mechanisms

THE LEGAL OPINION

The Legal Opinion

M&A transactions have an economic and a legal aspect to it (confine yourself to the law)

Dependent on the type of M&A transaction and the industry

Discuss the legal and taxation aspects

Legal Opinion Cont’d

Set out the facts of the M&A transaction

Discuss the type of sale that will be taking place (share sale or sale of assets and their implications)

Set out and explain the applicable and governing laws

State the regulations to be complied with


Analyses of any valuations done

Indicate the approvals to be sought and the procedure and timelines

Identify any restrictions in transfer of ownership

Discuss what legal risks exist (squatter issues)


Review the company’s previous and current legal history (lawsuits, contracts, proprietary interests and encumbrances)

Liability post the M&A transaction (who is to pay for the purchase price of property negotiated before the merger?)

Governing laws

Termination of agreement

THE END