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
Over the past 15+ years covered by the ABA studies, materiality scrapes have morphed from being a somewhat uncommon provision, seen in about 14% of transactions in 2005, to something near-ubiquitous in M&A purchase...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
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
In the recent case of Travelport Ltd v Wex Inc [2020] EWHC 2670 (Comm) (the “Travelport Case”), the High Courts of England considered the construction of a material adverse effect clause (“MAE Clause”) in which a party sought...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
The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed the M&A market at every stage of the deal-making process – from complicating on-site visits and intensifying the diligence process to introducing valuation gaps (relative to pre-COVID-19...more
In a recent decision, the Delaware Court of Chancery permitted a buyer to escape its obligation to acquire a target from a seller under the parties’ purchase agreement because the target had made extensive changes to its...more
On October 12, 2020, in Travelport Ltd & Ors v WEX Inc [2020] EWHC 2670, Justice Cockerill of the English High Court held that WEX had in large part correctly interpreted the terms of the material adverse effect (MAE) clause...more
Skadden partner Edward Micheletti, who heads the litigation practice of the firm’s Wilmington office, answers common Delaware law questions facing boards of directors during the COVID-19 crisis....more
We highlight the responses companies are taking in light of the current environment and the arguments some buyers are making to terminate transactions. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a steep decline in US M&A activity in...more
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the measures being taken at every level to contain the spread thereof is a rapidly evolving public health and humanitarian issue. Naturally, COVID-19 and its...more
On December 18, 2019, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a 119-page post-trial memorandum opinion 1) rejecting a buyer's argument that the target company had breached representations and warranties in the parties' merger...more
In the second half of 2018, the Delaware courts once again produced decisions that will guide M&A transactions in the future. Three cases affecting US M&A stood out in 2018....more
On December 7, 2018, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery's decision in Akorn, Inc. v. Fresenius Kabi AG , C.A. No. 2018-0300-JTL, which upheld, for the first time under Delaware law, the ability of a...more
On October 1, in Akorn v. Fresenius Kabi, the Delaware Court of Chancery for the first time found that a material adverse effect — or MAE — had occurred in a merger transaction, which, combined with other breaches of the...more
The recent decision of the Delaware Court of Chancery in Akorn, Inc. v. Fresenius Kabi AG et. al is the first time a Delaware court has found a material adverse effect in the M&A context, and reinforces current Delaware law...more
• In a rare move, the Delaware Court of Chancery affirmed a buyer’s contractual right to terminate a $4.75 billion merger based on a sudden and sustained decline in the seller’s business. • The decision provides guidance to...more
The English High Court recently considered whether a downward revision of a profit forecast would constitute a “material adverse effect” within the parameters of the provision agreed on by the parties in the share purchase...more