Cooley LLP provided a recap of 2017 M&A, along with an outlook for 2018 for Lexology, which includes a discussion of appraisal conditions in private M&A deals. We have blogged previously about the possibility of acquirers including appraisal conditions in public deals.

This 2018 M&A Outlook is a good reminder of the role that appraisal plays in mergers of non-public companies. As Cooley observes: “While the inclusion of any appraisal rights condition remains uncommon in public deals, we commonly negotiate these conditions in private sales of venture-backed companies. Commonly accepted conditions take one of two forms: the absence of available appraisal rights altogether or appraisal rights not having been exercised by a certain percentage of shares.” The piece further suggests the legality of any such advance waivers of appraisal rights “has not been resolved by the courts.”