Earn-Out: Price Adjustment Method In Share Purchase Agreements

Purchase price is invariably among the most contentious points during the negotiation phase of an M&A transaction. Especially in cross-border transactions, the buyer may wish to minimise risks by opting for alternative payment methods. One is these methods is "earn-out," where a part of purchase price will be calculated by reference to the future financial performance of the target company. Statistics pertaining to the year of 2020, indicate that earn-out clauses were used in around 27% of the acquisitions concluded in the United States. Also, earn-out clauses are frequently being used in share purchase agreements concluded in Europe. This is especially the case in deals involving start-up companies, where the uncertainty increases on the factors of target company's future performance and the buyer does not have any in-depth market experience.