The M&A Lifecycle Part 4 – Signing, Completion And Integration

Our mergers and acquisitions (M&A) Lifecycle series has looked at the key stages of an M&A transaction, from the inception of the deal and term sheets, to the process of due diligence and the drafting of principal documents required. For this final part of our series, we will be focusing on what happens when deal documents are drafted and ready for signature, the completion process and post-completion actions parties may want to consider.

Signing and completion

Once the transaction documents have been drafted, negotiated and agreed between the parties to a transaction, they will need to be executed to become legally binding documents. Whilst this may be expected to be a simple process, it can often be complex, with schedules to be completed and ancillary documents often to be signed simultaneously, with timing also to be considered. In particular, parties may want to consider the following: