M&A Litigation

As parties to merger or acquisition agreements carefully review their agreements to see what, if any, impacts the COVID-19 pandemic may have, the recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Newmont Mining Corp. v. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. provides meaningful guidance for the interpretation of Material Adverse Effect (“MAE”) provisions in agreements governed by New York law.

The global M&A market has remained strong from the end of 2017 into 2018, with the total deals announced in the first half of 2018 making it the best period for global M&A yet. With stockholders pressuring larger companies to grow their revenues and the strong liquidity position of many companies, it is a sellers’ market. For companies looking to sell and participate in the record-breaking 2018 global M&A market of $890.7 billion in Q1 and $889 billion closed with $1.3 billion announced in Q2,2 the toughest question is often how to start.

As our clients and friends know, each year Mintz Levin provides an analysis of the regulatory developments that impact public companies as they prepare for their fiscal year-end filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and their annual shareholder meetings.

Recently, there have been a number of sales of well-known and well-respected craft breweries to the major beer producers. In addition, there have been a smaller number of sales of craft breweries to private equity investors. Is one type of buyer better than the other from the perspective of the selling brewery?