Bloomberg reports:
The number of lawsuits asking courts to keep mergers on track is likely to grow as the coronavirus scrambles business deals worldwide and acquirers balk at the uncertainty, experts say. ...
The prospects of merger plaintiffs like Bed Bath will likely turn on provisions that assign risk, particularly “material adverse change” (MAC) and “material adverse event” (MAE) clauses, Tyler said.
There's been a lot of discussion of this issue over on Twitter, of which the following is a sample:
The #COVID19 outbreak has sent shockwaves through global financial markets. In this new alert, #TeamSPB London's Peter Crossley, Max Rockall and Maria Davies take a closer look at material adverse change clauses amid the #coronavirus outbreak. https://t.co/YkrzFo4AlU pic.twitter.com/q3IkDQGbNi
— Squire Patton Boggs (@SPB_Global) April 9, 2020
"Regarding the handful of terminated deals for which publicly filed agreements are available, none excluded outbreak of disease, epidemics, or the like from the scope of their material adverse effect (MAE) provisions—an exclusion that could have kept buyers on the hook." https://t.co/LYfeY5aNrV
— Ann Lipton (@AnnMLipton) April 8, 2020
Shots Fired: Recent Claims to Terminate M&A Deals Over COVID-19 Material Adverse Effects. #covid19 #coronavirus #troutmanpepper #mergersandacquisitions https://t.co/8iqCBpGWho
— Troutman Sanders (@tstweets) April 9, 2020
For prior coverage of MACs here at PB.com, see
