For his regular column for Practical Law, Senior M&A Partner Frank Aquila authored an article on ESG-driven divestments. Boards of directors are increasingly facing pressure from certain investors and stakeholders to consider divestments for ESG-related reasons. Following the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, as an example, some of the world’s largest companies announced divestments of Russian operations and suspensions of business in Russia. 

In his article, Frank offers a memo to a board giving a high-level overview of issues to guide directors’ discussions when considering ESG-driven divestments and similar transactions. These issues include recent developments and trends, fiduciary duties, the board’s governance framework and oversight of ESG issues, internal and external ESG experts, and disclosure and messaging considerations. Read Frank’s full article here.