Insurance in M&A Transactions

Europe 2020

Initiators

We are pleased to introduce you to the first edition of the M&A REVIEW EUROPE. The M&A REVIEW EUROPE is a joint initiative of the French-speaking M&A magazine “Fusions & Acquisitions” and the German-speaking “M&A Review”. Both magazines developed over three decades each in parallel and are among the oldest magazines in the field of M&A in Europe. We, Martina Guérassimova (owner Fusions & Acquisitions) and Stefan Schneider (owner M&A REVIEW) decided to join forces to develop a new online magazine for the European M&A market: M&A REVIEW EUROPE. As M&A does not really know any borders, especially in Europe, the online magazine allows us to cover European topics that are of interest for our readers.

Insurance in M&A Transactions

A suitable tool for facilitating M&A transactions in difficult times?

Even prior to the Corona Pandemic outbreak, experts anticipated an upcoming downturn in the European M&A market and an increasing number of insolvency proceedings due to the general economic development. The number of M&A deals in Europe decreased already by 4% from 949 deals in 2018 to 913 in 2019, in value even by 31% from EUR 832 Billion in 2018 to EUR 573 Billions in 2019 (Source: Thomson Financial). Michael Drill, CEO of Lincoln International AG, indicated at that time in the MuMAC Special 2019, that „managers and investors are starting to become cautious when contemplating acquisitions and are aware of the risks associated with the high valuations that sellers are still expecting for their businesses.” These trends have been fueled by the Corona caused shut-down in Europe and Rest of World.

In light of recent political, economic as well as technological trends, the M&A REVIEW EUROPE series offers European M&A market participants guidance with multitude of articles and services on M&A at one place (https://ma-review.com). The articles and topics cover current market and legal developments in cross-border M&A with focus on Europe. The content provided can be deepened in topic-specific webinars on the M&A REVIEW LIVE platform. With this service, M&A REVIEW EUROPE covers a gap in the M&A market that has been identified by many market participants in the past looking for independent guidance.

“Insurance in M&A transactions“ as the first topic of M&A REVIEW EUROPE was carefelly selected. Given the growing uncertainty in the markets, the importance of adequate and tailormade insurance solutions as M&A deal facilitator has significantly increased. In most European countries e.g. W&I insurance appears these days to be almost a standard instrument in mid and large cap transactions, other risk transfer solutions are also becoming more popular.

For this reason, we believe it is of utmost importance for all M&A professionals to get an overview about the current market developments, existing instruments and the latest trends in transactional risk insurance written from various perspectives.

We also want to thank our partners and sponsors from insurers, brokers and law firms, namely AIG, Arqis, DUAL, Howden, KPMG, Latham & Watkins, Liberty Global Transaction Solutions, Marsh and White & Case, that supported us in joining forces for this unique project.

We hope you enjoy the issue and we look forward to welcoming you to the subsequent webinars.

In case you are interested in more M&A relevant topics, follow us on LinkedIn or on our websites of Fusions & Acquisitions and M&A REVIEW and register for upcoming events.

The webinars (registration below) are covering the content provided in the articles.

Insurance in M&A Transactions - Content

Markets

European Trends in Transactional Risk Insurance
Impact of the Corona Pandemic on the M&A Insurance Market

Instruments

What is Transactional Risk Insurance?
What is Contingent Legal Risk Insurance?
Cash Release Insurance
Tax Insurance - New Instrument for managing transfer pricing risks
Insuring Environmental Risks in M&A Transactions
Parental Company Guarantee
Avoiding the Pitfalls of W&I insurance: A lawyer's perspective

Claims

W&I insurance claims on the rise
Claim experiences

Trends

M&A Insurance on Carve-Out Transactions
M&A Insurance for Distressed and Insolvent Transactions: A Broker's Perspective
W&I Insurance as Deal Facilitator in Distressed Transactions: A Lawyer's Perspective
W&I insurance in the Light of Venture Capital Transactions - a tool to balance conflicting interests?

M&A REVIEW EUROPE - Insurance in M&A Transactions

M&A REVIEW EUROPE