Translation for mergers and acquisitions. Read the data room before closing

A data room mixes contracts, accounts, leases and minutes in two or three languages. You need to read fast, then render a few binding documents word for word. Corrext keeps these two tasks apart, in Switzerland.

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Each term, in the official text

Highlight a restructuring term: CHnell shows its German version in the same official text, with its source.

contrat de fusionFrenchGerman42 results

Les sociétés qui fusionnent doivent établir des comptes intermédiaires si la date de clôture du bilan est antérieure de plus de six mois à celle de la conclusion du contrat de fusion ou si des modifications importantes sont intervenues dans leur patrimoine depuis la clôture du dernier bilan.

Liegt der Bilanzstichtag bei Abschluss des Fusionsvertrags mehr als sechs Monate zurück oder sind seit Abschluss der letzten Bilanz wichtige Änderungen in der Vermögenslage der an der Fusion beteiligten Gesellschaften eingetreten, so müssen diese einen Zwischenabschluss erstellen.

SR-221.301 FusG-LFus-LFus - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.on

La société reprenante doit attribuer des droits équivalents aux titulaires de bons de jouissance de la société transférante, ou racheter leurs bons de jouissance à leur valeur réelle au moment de la conclusion du contrat de fusion.

Die übernehmende Gesellschaft muss den Inhaberinnen und Inhabern von Genussscheinen der übertragenden Gesellschaft gleichwertige Rechte gewähren oder ihre Genussscheine zum wirklichen Wert im Zeitpunkt des Abschlusses des Fusionsvertrags zurückkaufen.

SR-221.301 FusG-LFus-LFus - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.on

Si des modifications importantes du patrimoine actif ou passif de l’une des sociétés qui fusionnent interviennent entre la conclusion du contrat de fusion et la décision de l’assemblée générale, l’organe supérieur de direction ou d’administration de cette société en informe les organes supérieurs de direction ou d’administration des autres sociétés qui fusionnent.

Treten bei einer der an der Fusion beteiligten Gesellschaften zwischen dem Abschluss des Fusionsvertrags und der Beschlussfassung durch die Generalversammlung wesentliche Änderungen im Aktiv- oder im Passivvermögen ein, so muss deren oberstes Leitungs- oder Verwaltungsorgan die obersten Leitungs- oder Verwaltungsorgane der anderen beteiligten Gesellschaften darüber informieren.

SR-221.301 FusG-LFus-LFus - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.on

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Restructuring vocabulary in four languages

Each of the four restructuring transactions has a precise legal name in the three official versions of the Mergers Act. Confusing them in a translation changes the nature of the instrument described. The English column uses the translation published by the Confederation on Fedlex where there is one, which has no legal force, and common usage otherwise.

German	French	Italian	English	Reference
Fusion	fusion	fusione	merger	art. 3 LFus
Fusionsvertrag	contrat de fusion	contratto di fusione	merger agreement	art. 12 LFus
Fusionsbeschluss	décision de fusion	decisione di fusione	merger resolution	art. 18 LFus
Spaltung	scission	scissione	demerger	art. 29 LFus
Umwandlung	transformation	trasformazione	conversion	art. 53 LFus
Vermögensübertragung	transfert de patrimoine	trasferimento di patrimonio	transfer of assets and liabilities	art. 69 LFus
Kapitalerhöhung	augmentation du capital	aumento del capitale	capital increase	art. 650 CO
Unternehmenszusammenschluss	concentration d'entreprises	concentrazione di imprese	concentration of undertakings	art. 4 LCart

Equivalents taken from official Swiss texts, published in German, French and Italian. In Corrext, each term opens in context in Fast lookup CHnell, with its source.

The acts a transaction cites every day

A Swiss transaction is written first with the Mergers Act and the Code of Obligations. Competition law and private international law join in as soon as the deal crosses certain thresholds or borders.

FusG

Mergers Act

FR · ITLFus

It defines the four restructuring transactions, their mandatory documents and the required majorities

Code of Obligations (CO)

DEORFR · ITCO

It governs the acquisition agreement, the decision-making bodies and commercial register entries

CartA

Federal Act on Cartels and other Restraints of Competition

DEKG

Above certain thresholds, it makes concentrations of undertakings subject to notification

PILA

Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA)

DEIPRGFR · ITLDIP

It governs mergers and transfers involving a foreign company

Translating a transaction, in practice

Translating a merger or an acquisition means handling two very different sets of documents. On one side, thousands of pages of due diligence to understand quickly. On the other, a handful of instruments that bind the parties, from the merger agreement to the general meeting resolutions. The vocabulary comes from the Mergers Act and the Code of Obligations, in their three official versions.

Transaction documents

Data room
The batch goes into File translation and comes back in its original format. The team reads instead of deciphering, with no copying and pasting from one document to another. Up to 25 files of 50 MB per upload, in .pdf .doc .docx .xls .xlsx .ppt .pptx formats.
Due diligence report
The report is written in one language and read in another by the investment committee. A Light review is enough for an internal document.
Merger agreement
The instrument that binds the parties goes through Full review or Double review & certified translation, with the delivery time shown before you approve the quote.
Corporate resolutions
The merger resolution, the external auditor's report and the register entries use the labels of the Mergers Act and the CO, not their synonyms.
Merger control filing
A concentration subject to notification is described in the language of the authority concerned, with the vocabulary of the Cartel Act.

What Corrext brings to this area

Scanned documents

Some of the contracts in a data room exist only as scanned PDFs. The PDF to Word tab produces an editable document before translation or annotation.

Confidentiality of the deal

Highly sensitive content mode requires storage and processing in Switzerland only, with no reuse of the content in a translation memory. Available in German, French, Italian and English.

Sourced terminology

Fast lookup CHnell covers the M&A and Company Law domains, with the source article or publication next to each occurrence.

Three phases of a deal where time can be saved

Due diligence

A data room to read fast

Batches go into File translation with LexMachina and Highly sensitive content mode. The documents come back in their original format, and the team spots the sensitive clauses instead of spending its nights deciphering.

Negotiation

A contract that changes three times a day

Each version reuses the vocabulary of the last. The translation memory avoids retranslating what has not changed, and a highlighted term opens in context in CHnell with its official source.

Closing

Documents to file with the register

Merger resolution, merger agreement, external auditor's report: these documents go through Full review or Double review & certified translation. The translation of the register extract is then ordered online, certified at the level required.

Frequently asked questions on M&A translation

Can a data room be translated without the documents leaving Switzerland?

Yes. Storage is on Swiss servers in every case, and processing stays in Switzerland with LexMachina or in Highly sensitive content mode. If a team member chooses an engine hosted abroad, the Attorney-Client privilege notice appears before sending and reminds them of your organisation's policy: pseudonymisation first.

How many documents can I upload at once?

Up to 25 files of 50 MB each per upload in Text and document translation, in .pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt and .pptx formats. For a larger batch, for tracking by batch or for human review, start from Translation projects.

Does every document in a deal need human review?

No, and that is the point of keeping the two tasks apart. Documents read for understanding go through machine translation. The instruments that bind the parties, starting with the merger agreement and the corporate resolutions, go through Full review or Double review & certified translation, chosen document by document.

Do the deal documents feed a shared database?

Projects in Standard confidentiality can feed a translation memory that only your organisation can reuse. Projects in Highly sensitive content mode are never reused in a memory, which suits deals that are still confidential. You choose the mode for each project when you create it.

How should restructuring vocabulary be translated?

With the terms of the Mergers Act, which distinguishes four transactions: merger, demerger, conversion and transfer of assets and liabilities. Each has an official name in German, French and Italian, which you can look up in context in Fast lookup CHnell with its reference.

What about documents in a less common language?

The platform covers 30 languages, with German, French, Italian and English native in every pair. A foreign subsidiary whose contracts are drafted in another language therefore stays readable for the deal team. Documents come back in their original format, whatever the source language.