It is time for our next section on mergers and acquisitions. Before we start with the question on “parties” of the agreement and definitions and interpretation issues as promised last time, we need to focus on some preliminary considerations. When I started my law studies one of our more-distinguished professors said that: “during you career you learn to ask more and more questions on each topic and after law school you should be able to present at least three relevant questions on any legal issue”. On the other hand, Mika mentioned that his old boss and partner, a well-known M&A figure, taught him years back that every M&A deal contains the maximum of three fundamental issues that need to be resolved or addressed. The rest is not that significant. So if you are planning a transaction either as a buyer or a seller – what are the questions you should ask? Well, we naturally cannot offer here the pleasure of enjoying the bliss of a full law degree, which we’ve had our share of - not only one but also twice at the minimum, but at the minimum we can provide you all with a head start and some insights on the matters you should go through to ensure that your deal will be successful.

We’ll kick off with this posting a new blog series on M&A and how to negotiate M&A deals in practice. This one will be done in collaboration with my good old friend and Oxonian colleague Mika J. Lehtimäki. What we aim to achieve is to provide an overview of all the terms of a typical share purchase agreement, the typical negotiation points and illustrate also some common compromises and tactics.