Erik A. Lopez

OCTOBER 26, 2015

The following is a guest post from Nate Nead, an investment banking Director at Merit Harbor Group, LLC. Nate’s practice focuses on software, technology, energy and manufacturing. He and the Merit Harbor team work with middle-market business owners looking to grow, acquire or sell companies in the $10mm to $100mm valuation range. He works out of the company’s Seattle office.

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Erik A. Lopez

OCTOBER 3, 2015

Public companies that participate in M&A transactions are subject to a myriad of potential disclosure obligations throughout the transaction process. These may arise under applicable stock exchange listing rules, federal securities laws, state fiduciary duty and proxy requirements as well as antitrust law and other regulatory regimes. The federal securities laws alone may require various disclosures through an astonishingly long list of possible forms, schedules and registration statements,

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Erik A. Lopez

SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

Things rarely go according to plan. Earnings are missed. Commercial relationships end. Regulatory approvals don’t materialize. Lawsuits get filed. And disasters happen. Such are the vicissitudes of business. But what happens when they transpire during the gap period between signing and closing an M&A transaction? Most sellers would argue that little if anything should happen—the deal should still close at the previously agreed-upon purchase price.

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Erik A. Lopez

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

The primary transaction agreement in every M&A deal contains representations and warranties, colloquially referred to as “reps and warranties” or simply “reps,” from each party to the other. These are statements of past, present and sometimes future fact relating to the status, business, assets, liabilities, properties, condition, operating results, operations and prospects of the party making the statements, one or more companies under the party’s control or a

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Speaker: Susan Spencer, Principal of Spencer Communications

Intent signal data can go a long way toward shortening sales cycles and closing more deals. The challenge is deciding which is the best type of intent data to help your company meet its sales and marketing goals. In this webinar, Susan Spencer, fractional CMO and principal of Spencer Communications, will unpack the differences between contact-level and company-level intent signals.

Marketability

Erik A. Lopez

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

On August 19, 2015 , the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an opinion in Kerbawy v. McDonnell that addressed how holders of a majority of a company’s shares should take control of a board of directors by executing written consents. The case involved interpretation of Section 228 of the Delaware General Corporation Law , which provides that, unless otherwise set forth in a corporation’s certificate of incorporation, shareholders may act by written consent upon any action that may

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Erik A. Lopez

AUGUST 28, 2015

On August 28, 2015 , the Delaware Court of Chancery found the controlling shareholder-CEO and General Counsel of Dole Food Co. Inc. liable to investors for $148 million for fraudulently driving down the company’s share price in anticipation of a going-private transaction. What’s particularly noteworthy here is that the controlling shareholder appears to have structured the transaction with all of the protections required for minority shareholders ( see In Re MFW Shareholders Litig

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Banking Finance Marketability 52

Erik A. Lopez

AUGUST 23, 2015

An M&A lawyer runs the deal. She is the hub in the hub-and-spoke system of deal parties and their advisers. The M&A lawyer serves as the primary point of contact for the rest of the deal team and has principal responsibility for shepherding the transaction to closing. She may be an in-house attorney but is more often an M&A specialist practicing with an outside law firm.

Corporate Finance 52

Corporate Finance Finance 52

Erik A. Lopez

AUGUST 31, 2015

Like the classic game Operation, ® asset purchase transactions require parties to take great care in extracting just what they want. However, successful asset sales require quite a bit more than a pair of tweezers and steady hands. Among other things, they require a well-crafted Asset Purchase Agreement (APA). These agreements, at their most basic level, provide for the sale of tangible and intangible assets and liabilities of a seller to a buyer in return for cash or some other form of conside

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Intangible Assets Finance Compliance 52