What are Payments? Here, the parties focus on the specific issue of when payments must be made following a valid indemnification claim.

The Middle Ground: This section provides a deadline for when indemnification payments must be made, how they must be made (e.g. by wire transfer), and dictates that interest is to accrue if the payment deadline is missed.

Purpose: This section is purely procedural and, standing alone, has little effect on deal value (and no effect on the other two classification factors). The parties may devote a small amount of negotiation time to determining the payment window and the interest rate that applies if that window is missed. However, those issues will typically be agreed upon quickly given the fact that they may never come into play and, even if they do, they don’t present a particular hardship to either side so long as the terms are reasonable. Furthermore, since either side could end up as the Indemnifying Party it is in both their best interests to institute reasonable and impartial payment terms.

Buyer Preference: The Buyer typically prefers a shorter payment period and a higher interest rate, but that preference will be tempered by the fact that it may end up making a payment subject to those terms.

Seller Preference: The Seller favors a longer payment period and a lower interest rate, but it will also want the terms to be reasonable since it could wind up on the receiving end of indemnification payments.

Differences in a Stock Sale Transaction Structure: None.