Litigation developments: core M&A and corporate governance doctrines
Will COVID-19 Qualify as a ‘Material Adverse Effect’?
MAE Clauses: Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton COVID-19 Litigation Podcast Series
The accelerated development of artificial intelligence (AI) has shown the transformative potential of the technology across industries, making it an integral part of strategic planning for market participants, from technology...more
Chancery Court Provides Additional Guidance on Disclosure Requirements for Corwin Analysis - One of the most significant decisions of the Delaware Chancery Court in the last 15 years was the court’s ruling in Corwin v....more
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IN A MINUTE OR LESS - Material Adverse Effect (MAE) or Material Adverse Change (MAC) clauses are common in merger and acquisition (M&A) agreements. They allow a buyer to opt out of a deal if some...more
A Delaware court found a yoga studio franchisee was entitled to an order requiring the franchisor to buy all of the franchisee’s yoga studios in six states. The court held the franchisor breached its contractual obligation...more
Below is our Corporate / M&A decisions update covering decisions in the first quarter of 2022. This update is designed to highlight selected important M&A, corporate, and commercial court decisions on a quarterly basis....more
On March 1, 2022, Vice Chancellor Slights of the Delaware Chancery Court ordered CorePower Yoga (“CorePower”) to close the acquisition of 34 yoga studios from its largest franchisee, Level 4 Yoga (“Level 4”). The parties...more
The RWI market is quick to respond to changing circumstances and the Russian invasion of Ukraine is no exception. Let’s take the opportunity to talk first about the impact on diligence, secondly the impact on exclusionary...more
On March 1, 2022, the Delaware Court of Chancery delivered a memorandum opinion ordering a yoga franchisor to complete the acquisition of its franchisee’s chain of yoga studios. The case arose out of the parties’ pre-COVID...more
The COVID-19 pandemic created many uncertainties and challenges for investors and operators alike across the Middle East, including in the United Arab Emirates, which is often considered a regional healthcare and business...more
Editor’s Note: Akin Gump is pleased to publish the first in a series of blog posts covering significant issues U.S. boards of directors may expect to face in 2022. In addition to ongoing pressures on the part of boards of...more
Bardy Diagnostics: Chancery confirms high bar for material adverse effect - The Delaware Court of Chancery was once again required to determine whether a potential buyer should be relieved of its obligation to acquire a...more
In AB Stable VIII LLC v. MAPS Hotels and Resorts One LLC, et al., No. 71, 2021 (Del. Dec. 8, 2021), the Delaware Supreme Court, sitting en banc, affirmed a Court of Chancery judgment finding that a hotel owner violated its...more
Key Points - On December 7, 2021, the Delaware Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Court of Chancery’s decision in AB Stable VIII LLC v. MAPS Hotels and Resorts One LLC, finding that certain actions taken by the Seller...more
An expected tidal wave of Covid-related M&A litigation has not materialised, but the current spate of deals and rising prices could see disputes spike and investors turn once again to the courts....more
On July 9, 2021, the Delaware Court of Chancery (Slights, V.C.) issued an opinion in Bardy Diagnostics, Inc. v. Hill-Rom, Inc., No. 2021-0175-JRS, concluding that the requirements of a “material adverse effect” (“MAE”) clause...more
Prior to the Delaware Court of Chancery’s opinion in Akorn, Inc. v. Fresenius Kabi AG, C.A. No. 2018-0300-JTL, 2018 WL 4719347 (Del. Ch. Oct. 1, 2018), aff’d 198 A.3d 724 (Del. 2018), no Delaware court had found the existence...more
Williams: Court of Chancery Finds Poison Pill Unenforceable - In February, the Delaware Court of Chancery held that a shareholder rights plan (a "poison pill") adopted by The Williams Companies, Inc. at the onset of the...more
Hogan Lovells partners Courtney Devon Taylor and Christopher Pickens, from our Philadelphia and Northern Virginia offices respectively, discuss core M&A and corporate governance doctrines – and how they will continue to...more
Delaware Chancery Court awards specific performance after finding that buyer failed to demonstrate a material adverse effect or ordinary course breach by target and that buyer failed to use reasonable best efforts to obtain...more
It has become something of a truism for English M&A lawyers to say that material adverse change (MAC) clauses are rarely triggered in practice. A recent English judgment in Travelport Ltd v Wex Inc [2020] EWHC 2670 (Comm)...more
The decision leaves the door open for buyers to argue that inflexible ordinary course covenants can provide a basis to terminate a transaction in which a seller does not suffer an MAE. Key Points: ..The Delaware Court...more
In AB Stable VIII LLC v. Maps Hotels and Resorts One LLC, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a precedential decision addressing whether a buyer could walk away from an M&A transaction because the target company’s responses...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
On November 30, 2020, Vice Chancellor Laster of Delaware’s Court of Chancery issued the first case where the pandemic provided a company with the ability to walk away from its contractual obligations in a sale transaction,...more
In just about every way, the world turned upside down in 2020. Deals were no exception. Whether it was incorporating a PPP payoff or forgiveness into deal terms, drafting MAE, interim operating covenants and working capital...more