Buying Union-Staffed Companies: What Private Equity Firms Must Know and Do

Should you buy a union-staffed company? A unionized staff and the potential headaches of contract negotiations or management issues used to be enough to dissuade private equity firms from buying a company. But union-staffed companies present great opportunities, especially in terms of building up existing portfolio companies via acquisitions.

Of course, private equity firms need to do their due diligence, not only on the employees and the contracts, but also on the pension fund. To help, Dow Jones is teaming up with Morgan Lewis to host an free virtual seminar detailing the right steps to take when evaluating and buying a company with unionized employees.

Topics to be discussed include:

• How to evaluate the risk of union contracts
• What should be said in union contracts and red flags to look for
• Key issues firms must look for when evaluating union-staffed companies
• How to evaluate pension funds and their potential downstream risks
• Steps to take to ensure a smooth transition once a deal is completed