A recent decision by the Delaware Court of Chancery, Vintage Rodeo Parent v. Rent-A-Center, C.A. No. 2018-0927-SG, provides important guidance on two types of contractual provisions that routinely appear in complex purchase agreements—efforts clauses and notice provisions. With respect to efforts clauses, the court’s decision makes clear that these provisions do not create a duty to warn a contractual counterparty that its rights are about to lapse or that the party is intending to exercise certain of its contractual rights in the future. For notice provisions, the court’s decision reiterates that Delaware courts will strictly enforce unambiguous notice provisions, including requirements that notice be in writing.

Background

Vintage Capital Management LLC, through two affiliates, entered into a merger agreement to acquire Rent-A-Center Inc. Because the companies operate in the same space, the parties anticipated that receiving antitrust approval could be challenging and take time. Thus, as is customary, the merger agreement required the parties to use “commercially reasonable efforts” to obtain the requisite governmental approvals to consummate the merger, including antitrust approval.