Abstract

Organisation is under the constant pressure to grow with the changing market and increasing completion but less than one quarter of merger and acquisitions are not able to achieve the desired financial objective. There are different stages of merger and acquisition in which due diligence plays crucial role in the success of the deal. The due diligence provides essential information that can be used in negotiating the deals, determining the price of the bid and making any new recommendations. With due diligence the companies can tackle the risks involved in certain deals and make the M&A effective and successful. The ultimate goal of this stage is to make sure that there are no hidden drawbacks associated with the transaction. With this a proper strategies can be formed and the acquiring companies will be well aware of every liabilities associated with the target company. In this article we are dealing with the due diligence in light of its characteristic to foresee the future harm and to determine the shortfalls of due diligence in non disclosure of agreement and takeovers. Further we are dealing with the importance of environment due diligence in current times. EDD’s purpose is to issue an opinion of compliance with environmental law, to calculate the costs of detected environmental liabilities and to reduce the risks of legal disputes and how the emerging issue affects our daily life. Moreover this paper assesses whether the COVID-19 pandemic, how government responses to it and what were the actions taken by companies in relation to both constitute a “Material Adverse Effect” (MAE) under a particular MAE clause in a public company merger agreement. Material Adverse Change/Effect (‘MAC’) has become an important but chaotic legal notion. The paper draws two lessons from it (1) to understand the conceptual understanding of the due diligence, the process, principles and key areas and (2) Covid -19 as a Material Adverse Effect (MAC) Under M&A.

Keywords