By Maria Livanos Cattaui, Secretary General of ICC

The ICC Model Share Purchase Agreement is the first in a series of model contracts dealing with "mergers and acquisitions" (the transfer of a company or business). It is a share purchase agreement in its simplest form, covering the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of one company.

The publication assists business people and lawyers who are not specialized in mergers and acquisitions to draft a simple contract covering the most common issues involved. The flexibility of the contract allows parties to adapt it to meet their specific requirements.

The publication follows extensive discussion within ICC's Commission on Commercial Practice, and particularly involving the Task Force on Mergers and Acquisitions, chaired by Prof. Fabio Bortolotti (Italy). Other task force members were: Mr Ercument Erdem (Turkey), Mr Thomas Gasteyer (Germany), Mr Philippe Lamy (France), Mr Hakan Osvald (Sweden), Mr Dharmasinh Popat (India), Mr Fabio Regoli (Italy), Mr Julian Smith (United Kingdom), Mr Jeremy Cunningham (United Kingdom), Ms Isabelle Smith Monnerville (France), and Mr Jelle Timmenga (The Netherlands).

April 2004