Completion
Where exchange and completion are simultaneous, the buyer and the seller and their representatives will meet in order to complete the transaction. This will usually involve signing all of the acquisition documentation and holding all of the relevant completion board meetings. It is also usual for a certain amount of last minute negotiation to take place at the completion meeting.
Where there is a split exchange and completion, the completion meeting will usually just be a formality (as described in paragraph 5.4 above) and there should not be any last minute negotiations.
Post completion
Following completion the buyer will spend most of its time dealing with the integration of its new business into its existing business (if it has one). The lawyers will need to deal with post completion issues such as statutory filings, updating statutory books, payment of stamp taxes etc. It is also customary for one of the lawyers to put together a ‘bible’ of copies of the executed completion documents. Every party then receives a copy of the bible and it is used by the parties to remind them of the terms of the transaction as and when necessary in the future.