COVID-19: Impact on M&A and Shareholder Activism

On March 23, 2020, Cravath prepared a resource for clients entitled “COVID‑19: Impact on M&A and Shareholder Activism,” which summarizes the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic on market trends, including a widespread pause to M&A activity, regulatory delays on pending deals and depressed public equity prices. The materials also discuss COVID‑19’s likely effect on the ways in which individual M&A transactions are structured, which may include drafting of pandemics, epidemics or other similar health emergencies as explicit carve‑outs in material adverse effect definitions and increased due diligence timelines resulting from challenges related to business continuity and remote working. Additionally, the resource identifies current trends in shareholder activism activity that may make companies more vulnerable to activism and hostile attacks in the near future.

Please click here to read the resource.