It has been three years since we focused on the key subject of assuring that you have an experienced M&A attorney on your Deal Team in advance of launching the sale of your middle market aerospace and defense company (Deal Note® 004, February 22, 2022). It is a subject worth further emphasis because we continually see how important it is to have a true seasoned M&A attorney as part of a Deal Team. M&A attorneys are specialists much like other attorneys who specialize in other disciplines such as, patents, contract law, etc. The experience and expertise gained in working on many other M&A transactions enable your M&A attorney to quickly and efficiently review the myriad documents (e.g., NDA’s, LOI’s, PA’s) and thus saving time on your deal as well as significant cost.
With his or her experience, your M&A attorney will quickly resolve common issues that nearly always become points of contention between the buyer and seller. Issues such as escrow dollars and how long, working capital lookback periods, exclusivity periods, inventory matters, etc., are regular items that arise in the sale of a company. A seasoned M&A attorney will have the benefit of knowing from other transactions what the market solution is to each of these potential issues, having worked on many other deals. With the benefit of what other deal terms have been acceptable should rapidly resolve these potential contentious areas and permit transactions to proceed in a timely fashion thus saving significant time and cost.
Our recommendation therefore is very clear: hire an experienced M&A Attorney as part of your Deal Team prior to launching your sale process.
Have a great day everyone,
Bruce Andrews
Partner
