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ARTICLE · 24 FEBRUARY 2021

Earn-Outs And Reverse Earn-Outs

In May, we wrote about the increased focus on earn-out provisions during the pandemic as a method to mitigate the risk of a target's post-closing under-performance and to bridge any valuation gap between the purchaser and seller.

CanadaCorporate/Commercial Law

In May, we wrote about the increased focus on earn-out provisions during the pandemic as a method to mitigate the risk of a target's post-closing under-performance and to bridge any valuation gap between the purchaser and seller. More recently, we discussed post-closing balance sheet adjustments as a separate tool to address the same risk. In this article, we will focus on (i) reverse earn-out provisions and (ii) a review of the use of earn-outs in 2020 M&A deals.

Earn-out vs. Reverse Earn-out

As described in more detail in our May post, a 'classic earn-out' refers to a post-closing increase in the purchase price based on the achieving of certain performance targets, while a 'reverse earn-out' refers to a decrease in the purchase price if the performance targets are not achieved. For greater clarity, in a reverse earn-out scenario, the purchaser pays the maximum amount for the target at closing and if the agreed upon performance targets are not met, the vendor

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