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Tax Issues With M&A Representations, Warranties, and Indemnifications: Reps and Warranty Insurance, Proceeds and Tax Insurance

Recording of a 90-minute premium CLE/CPE video webinar with Q&A

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Conducted on Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Recorded event now available

or call 1-800-926-7926

This CLE/CPE course will guide tax counsel and advisers on the tax ramifications of representations, warranties, and indemnification provisions in mergers and acquisitions. The panel will discuss critical tax considerations for indemnification payments and losses and representation and warranty insurance.

Description

Representation and warranty provisions are critical components of M&A deals. The use of representation and warranty insurance (“RWI”) has drastically changed the landscape of how these important deal terms are negotiated. Counsel and advisers must carefully consider these provisions and their financial and tax implications when structuring purchase agreements.

In a traditional M&A transaction, a seller agrees to indemnify the buyer for breaches of the seller's representations and warranties, but this indemnification obligation is often subject to caps, exclusions, and time limits. Typically, the indemnity is backed by an escrow of a portion of the proceeds payable at the closing. Many transactions would also include a “pre-closing tax indemnity” that provides coverage – independent from the representations and warranties – for certain (generally historical) taxes of a target company.

The last decade has seen a huge uptick in the use of RWI in M&A deals. This is often coupled with a significant scaling back, or elimination, of traditional indemnity protections. Where it applies, the insurance outsources to the insurer the risk of loss from a breach of representations and warranties by sellers - enabling sellers to come closer to the “walkaway” construct that they would naturally want while leaving buyers protected.

RWI is not a solution for every transaction. Further, regular RWI policies do not cover everything – such as known taxes or tax issues. For certain known risks, separate tax insurance can be considered. It is important for counsel and advisers to understand the function of representations and warranties, the parameters of RWI and tax insurance and the associated key tax considerations.

Listen as our panel discusses critical tax provisions relating to purchase price payments and adjustments and key tax considerations for representation and warranty insurance.

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Outline

  1. Tax considerations in M&A reps, warranty, and indemnification provisions
  2. Utilizing insurance and key tax provisions in reps and warranties policies
  3. Tax treatment of indemnification payment
  4. Tax treatment of insurance costs
  5. Best practices

Benefits

The objective of this panel is to provide attendees with better knowledge, including market knowledge, of (among other things), the following key issues:

  • How is representation and warranty insurance used in mergers and acquisitions?
  • How does the tax classification of the target change the RWI approach?
  • What items are excluded from RWI and how can potential exclusions be handled?
  • What is the tax treatment of indemnification and insurance payments?
  • How can tax insurance fill coverage gaps left by regular RWI?

Faculty

Berger, Daniel
Daniel Berger

Senior Vice President, Head of Tax Insurance
Lockton Companies

Mr. Berger joined Lockton in 2021 as Senior Vice President and Head of Tax Insurance on the industry-leading...  |  Read More

Clark, Randy
Randy J. Clark

Partner
K&L Gates

Mr. Clark is a partner in the firm’s Charlotte office and a member of the tax practice group. He focuses his...  |  Read More

Gray, Thomas
Thomas Gray

Partner
Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders

With a background in both accounting and law, Mr. Gray focuses his practice on the tax aspects of corporate and...  |  Read More

Hochenberg, Malcolm
Malcolm S. Hochenberg

Partner
Proskauer Rose

Mr. Hochenberg is a partner in the Tax Department. His practice involves helping clients achieve all tax and other...  |  Read More

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