Crisis Brings Earnouts Back Into Style

By Jacqueline Bell

Law360, New York (October 23, 2009, 5:01 PM ET) -- As buyers on the hunt for new acquisitions find themselves still grappling with qualms about the future in the wake of the financial crisis, attorneys say they're seeing a renewed interest in earnouts as a way to deal with often difficult financing conditions and lingering questions about a target company's true potential.

Earnouts never disappeared from the deal maker's toolkit, but in boom markets, where a seller is likely to have little trouble getting top dollar, earnouts are usually rare.

But the financial crisis has sparked...
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