Whether you own a start-up company or you’re a manager in a large, well-established corporation, we understand that your needs are unique. That’s why hiring an experienced merger and acquisition attorney from Surovell Isaacs & Levy PLC can be so beneficial. We help strategize, negotiate, and execute transactions when two companies merge or purchase each other, always with your specific circumstances in mind.
Surovell Isaacs & Levy PLC represents buyers and sellers in Northern Virginia in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, retail, tech, and commercial real estate. Regardless of your business’s size, we understand that every transaction is vital to its future. We use creative solutions to resolve issues and close mergers and acquisitions and will help you make informed decisions at every step of the process.
Types of M&A Transactions We Handle
A merger and acquisition (M&A) refers to transactions combining two different companies. Although the terms mergers and acquisitions are frequently used interchangeably, they have different legal meanings. A merger occurs when two companies of similar size combine to form one entity.
Acquisitions involve a larger company acquiring ownership of a smaller company. The larger business absorbs the smaller business into itself. Depending on the approval of the company’s boards, mergers and acquisitions can be hostile or friendly.
At Surovell Isaacs & Levy PLC, our skilled attorneys handle a wide range of transactions related to companies’ purchases, sales, consolidations, or restructuring. We have extensive experience representing Fairfax businesses in the many types of mergers and acquisitions in the commercial world, including the following:
Asset Purchases
One company buys specific assets from another business, such as intellectual property, equipment, or real estate.
Stock Purchases
One company purchases another company’s equity interest in another company by purchasing membership interests or shares from existing owners.
Mergers
When two or more companies merge, they combine their assets, liabilities, and operations into one entity. Mergers benefit companies by helping them expand their customer reach into new sectors or gain market shares. The five major types of mergers are congeneric, market extension, conglomerate, horizontal, and vertical.
Mergers are always voluntary and involve two or more businesses joining on relatively equal terms to form a new legal entity. After the merger, shares of the new company are distributed to existing shareholders of the original businesses.
Joint Ventures
Forming a joint venture involves establishing a new entity owned by multiple owners in a party to work together to achieve specific business goals. Joint ventures can benefit from sharing risks, resources, and rewards.
Strategic Alliances
Strategic alliances involve creating collaborative agreements between companies to pursue mutually beneficial outcomes without sharing ownership interests. These agreements can include revenue-sharing agreements, referral agreements, sharing ownership agreements, co-marketing agreements, co-development agreements, distribution agreements, and license agreements.
Divestitures
Divestitures involve disposing of specific business divisions, subsidiaries, or a class of assets. They can involve the partial or full disposal of business units through the exchange, closure, sale, or bankruptcy of a company. Commonly, divestitures result from a management decision to cease operating a business unit because it isn’t benefiting the company or part of its core competency.
Cross-Border Transactions
Engaging in mergers and acquisitions internationally can come with unique challenges. At Surovell Isaacs & Levy PLC, we regularly work with local legal counsel in countries outside the United States to navigate regulatory and legal complexities when transactions involve companies from more than one country.
Providing Businesses with Sophisticated Legal Counsel
Companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions will benefit from working with an experienced commercial law firm. At Surovell Isaacs & Levy PLC, we provide clients with coordinated and sophisticated real-time counsel and legal advice.
Our diverse team of attorneys regularly resolves issues for our clients by pursuing creative solutions. We will work diligently to close your transaction while protecting your rights and interests. Whether you’re pursuing a simple stock or asset sale or a complex merger, recapitalization, or stock swamp, we’ll provide you with the legal representation you need.
The Mergers and Acquisitions Process
When developing an acquisition strategy, it’s important to locate a business with the highest return on your investment after purchasing the company. For example, suppose you’re hoping to have more control over the supply chain process. In that case, you may want to consider a vertical integration strategy that involves purchasing manufacturers or suppliers to include under your umbrella. You may want to supplement your product volume to increase the stock you can sell to your customers, allowing you to surpass industrial bottlenecks.
The first step is to narrow down your desired growth area and find qualified candidates. After creating a list of potential candidates, executives in the larger company can contact representatives of potential candidates to determine whether they’re open to possibly merging. They should eventually narrow the list down to one or a few companies to pursue.
The Valuation Process
The acquiring company will need to value the smaller company. Using multiple valuation models can help the company arrive at an initial offer. Negotiation can be the most challenging part of the merger and acquisition process, depending on the goals of both sides and their willingness to compromise.
When using different valuations and other data, both sides can make a case for their offers and work to negotiate an agreeable amount. From there, the due diligence process will take several months, depending on the company’s size. The final steps in the process are drawing up contracts, solidifying financing, and finishing the process.
Discuss Your Mergers and Acquisitions with an Attorney in Fairfax
Surovell Isaacs & Levy PLC attorneys provide transaction and corporate legal representation to Fairfax companies in a wide range of industries. If you have questions about the mergers and acquisition (M&A) process, we are prepared to provide effective legal counsel tailored to your company’s unique needs and goals. Don’t hesitate to contact Surovell Isaacs & Levy PLC to schedule a complimentary case evaluation.