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So You Think You Own Preferred Stock?
It is no secret that the bulk of today's activity in the private equity sector is taken up with late rounds of financing. Typically, the VCs (ie, private equity funds, including but not limited to funds which are the incumbent in a particular company's series of preferred shares) negotiate the terms of, let's call it, the Series D round ' a so-called “follow on” round. The D Round succeeds, in point of time, the initial issuance to the following investors: common stock to the founders, friends and family and sometimes angels, followed by Series A, B and C convertible preferred shares, to the professional investors.
As VCs in the D round survey the balance sheet and capital structure, they note it is sufficiently cluttered that the company, unless it cleans up its capital structure, may be unfinanceable. And, while the majority of the holders of the A, B and C Series may be amenable to a new round of financing, the vote in favor of the term sheet suggested by the investors in the Series D round (often highly dilutive) may be less than one hundred percent. There is often an intractable, truculent holdout ' someone or some institution who or which, for one reason or another, has entirely lost confidence in the company and its management, or is otherwise disaffected. Some of the holdouts may be impervious to the argument that, absent new financing, the company will fail. “Let it fail,” may be their response. Or, alternatively, “pay me extra baksheesh to persuade me to give up my blocking position.”
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent Trolls
With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.