Appraisal Rights

JANUARY 22, 2021

Do stockholders as a group lose something when the appraisal remedy is weakened, perhaps overly so? And should something be done about it? Is there social utility in appraisal arbitrageurs testing merger prices, such as by keeping buyers and sellers honest in what may otherwise be a rather unfair market? These questions are addressed, along with a policy (legislative) prescription in the 2020 article: Protecting the Social Utility of Appraisal Arbitrage: A Case for Amending Delaware Law to Str

Appraisal 52

Appraisal Start-ups Marketability 52

Cooley M&A

JANUARY 22, 2021

A Tale of Two Years. While we continue to absorb and understand the worldwide pandemic shockwaves of 2020, trying to encapsulate the vicissitudes of the past year in an annual recap is daunting. Early weeks of the pandemic created an almost inconceivable shift in dealmaking – lawyers and advisors conditioned to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the trenches with clients were suddenly staring at each other’s faces on (interminable) Zoom calls.

Start-ups 40

Start-ups Technology Marketability Appraisal 40

Cooley M&A

JANUARY 22, 2021

General Trends in Life Sciences M&A. If 2019 was the year of life sciences mega-deals, 2020 was the year of COVID-19, as the global pandemic permeated every aspect of the dealmaking landscape, with the life sciences sector being no exception. COVID-19 drove unprecedented levels of collaboration among biopharmaceutical companies seeking to develop a vaccine, leading to an accelerated research and development process that allowed not just one—but two—vaccines to be approved by the FDA in recor

Marketability 40

Marketability Equity Technology 40