How to mitigate antitrust risks before they capsize deals

By Ms. Morgan Frontczak & Mr. Charles Webb & Mr. Matthew Readings

This session at the annual M&A Conference at the University of Chicago provided guidance on the shifting environment for competition reviews in the United States, Europe, and other jurisdictions.

The participants, Morgan Frontczak (Shell), Chuck Webb (FedEx), and Matthew Readings (Shearman & Sterling), commented on specific deal terms that anticipate protectionist views and antitrust challenges associated with conglomerate risk and the merits of negotiating....

Read more

Methods for heading off antitrust and regulatory challenges

By William Jefferson Black

In the last few years, additional protectionist pressures are clearly straining the corporate development process as far as timing and risks, but a better understanding of this area is now being woven into the corporate development process. 

In a series of discussions that took place during the recent M&A Conferences at Wharton San Francisco, the University of Chicago, and at Fordham Law New York the corporate faculty explored a range of innovative deal terms and...

Read more

Steps for heading off Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scrutiny

Steps for heading off Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scrutiny
By Mr. Steve Spiegelhalter & Ms. Laura Kobes

Compliance issues consistently rank at the top of most M&A deal team’s concerns both during and after a transaction. 

This paper discusses how the DOJ and SEC policies, along with the FCPA regulations, incentivize acquirers to perform thorough FCPA-compliant due diligence and to take advantage of...

Read more

M&A strategy and process shifts | M&A Summit

By William Jefferson Black

Throughout the Intralinks Virtual M&A Summit there was a consensus that the functioning of the financial markets makes this period different from the 2008-2009 economic decline.

Nonetheless, dealmakers are strained to evaluate M&A as the highest and best use of capital, if valuation declines make this an opportune time to approach targets, and whether to continue inflight deals.

A recommendation, that was echoed by many of the participants, was to consider more structured tools for...

Read more