Our commercial lawyers handle the full life cycle of both corporate and private deals.

Insight from AE

Mergers and Acquisitions in Malta

There’s no single rule book that governs Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) in Malta. Instead, stakeholders need to examine all the different pieces of legislation that interact within each M&A case. This includes the Civil Code, which is responsible for regulating the legal foundations of any corporate merger or acquisition. It considers things like the formation and validity of contracts, liability under both tort and contract, and even more specific contracts like sale, deposit or mandate. Complexity is piled on when you factor in the equal relevance of the Companies Act, the Listing Rules, the EU Merger Control Regulation, and the Control of Concentrations Regulations. Depending on the M&A industry, even more Codes and regulations could apply. In short, it’s impossible to nail down a single set of M&A rules. Each case is subject to multiple moving parts that come together to form Malta’s regulating framework.

How AE can help

AE’s dedicated M&A team works with both Maltese and EU cross-border transactions across a range of scenarios including Competition Law, EU Law, Employment Law, and Property Law. Our portfolio of buyers, sellers, lenders, investment bankers and venture capitalists spans a multitude of highly complex transactions. With each case a new deal structure is created, built to stand up to both friendly and hostile negotiations. Our involvement ideally begins at the early stages, handling all legal due diligence and compliance processes throughout the contract drafting process. This can take place in tandem with the financial due diligence, which will always be managed by a certified public auditor. By working closely with the auditor, we can iron out any potential problems early on and create appropriate structures to ensure that the transaction runs smoothly. AE’s team will handle all dealings with the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority to gain merger control approvals, make complaints to the relevant authorities and pursue legal actions regarding infringements.

In addition to due diligence and contracts, our Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) team have regular dealings with the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, and as such are experienced and efficient in gaining merger control approvals, as well as making complaints to the relevant authorities, and pursuing legal actions regarding infringements. Our lawyers draw on a breadth of experience, both within the M&A team and across the firm to deal with all aspects of the due diligence process including Competition & EU law, Tax, Employment Law and Property Law.

Certified public auditors and accountancy firms can manage the Financial Due Diligence. By working closely together, we can iron out any potential problems during the earlier stages and can create appropriate structures to ensure the entire transaction runs smoothly.