Indemnities and warranties in M&A transactions
A purchaser typically requires a seller to give indemnities and warranties to safeguard the purchaser’s interest in a share or asset purchase agreement. From the purchaser’s perspective, there are some advantages of having indemnities over warranties, including the following: 1. The seller may be able to avoid liability under warranties …
Shareholders’ prior approval required for allotment of shares
The consequence of not getting shareholders’ prior approval for allotment of shares (if the approval is required under the Companies Act 2016 of Malaysia) could be severe. Therefore, if the scope of due diligence for an M&A transaction includes verifying shares in the target company have been duly allotted, the …
What are the legal requirements to transfer shares of a Malaysian company?
It’s a question that foreign counsels ask in every cross-border M&A transaction involving a Malaysian company. What are the legal requirements to transfer shares of a Malaysian company? The requirements are as follows: 1. Directors of the company to pass directors’ resolution to approve (1) the registration of the transferee …
Do you understand why we are doing it this way?
An investment banker once told me this: “I am happy to share credit with my team members for a job done well. But if anything goes wrong, it will be my responsibility. It will be on me.” The investment banker shared a story on how requests to other team members …
Liabilities of alternate director
Do you know that you are subject to the same directors’ liabilities under the Companies Act 2016 when you agree to act as alternate director? Anyone who consents to act as an alternate director should also understand the implication of doing so. Some points to note on alternate director: • …
Drafting boilerplate clauses
Boilerplate clauses usually appear towards the end of an agreement. They are usually not contentious, although I have come across counterparties’ counsels who wanted to amend boilerplate clauses at the eleventh hour of negotiation. When asked for the rationale for the proposed amendments, none was given, and they retracted their …
Non-executive director’s appointment letter
The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA)* published a guidance note on sample non-executive director’s appointment letter. The sample letter aims to provide an initial checklist of the elements a company intends to cover in its appointment letter and is not intended to be a prescriptive template. Although the …
Terms of preference shares
When issuing preference shares, a company must set out the rights of preference shareholders respect to the following in its constitution: • repayment of capital • participation in surplus assets and profits • cumulative or non-cumulative dividends • voting • priority of payment of capital and dividend in relation to …
Three simple ways to speed up legal due diligence
When a company undertakes a corporate exercise, the task of providing documents and information for due diligence is usually delegated to the management of the company. The following are three simple ways for the management of the company to speed up the due diligence exercise and make the process more …
CEO, CFO and COO are subject to directors’ duties
Directors’ duties are not limited to formally appointed directors. The definition of a “director” is not limited to a person who is formally appointed as a director. Whether a person is a director depends more on the person’s responsibilities than title. The definition of a “director” under section 2 of …