Use Case · Corporate / M&A

Draft deal-side NDAs in Word — buy-side or sell-side

Standstills, non-solicits, exclusivity, club-deal language, residuals — all the deal-specific clauses your commercial NDA template doesn't have.

Quick Answer

LexDraft's M&A Confidentiality Agreement covers the five clauses commercial NDAs skip: standstill (12-month default), non-solicit of key employees + customers, exclusivity windows, residuals-information carve-out (much tighter than commercial NDAs), and club-deal sharing rights. Sell-side variants add data-room access controls; buy-side variants add due-diligence-period limitations.

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M&A-specific clauses LexDraft generates

Standstill

Bidder cannot acquire stock, make tender offers, propose mergers, or seek board representation outside the negotiated process. 12-month default; fall-away triggers built in.

Non-solicit of employees

No hiring of named key employees (with general-advertisement carve-out) for 12 months. Tightened to specific senior roles by default.

Non-solicit of customers

No active solicitation of the target's customers identified in the data room. Carve-out for pre-existing relationships.

Exclusivity

Seller agrees not to negotiate with other bidders for 30-60 days. Critical for sell-side; LexDraft flags if missing.

Residuals carve-out (tight)

Much narrower than commercial NDAs — typically excludes all financial data, customer lists, and pricing. Bidder limited to unaided-memory residuals only.

Club-deal language

Permits sharing with named consortium members (PE co-investors, advisors, lenders) under back-to-back confidentiality obligations.

Data-room access controls

Sell-side: named-user list, watermarking acknowledgement, download restrictions, post-process return obligations.

Definitive-agreement carve-out

"No legally binding obligation until definitive agreement is signed" — protects against pre-contractual liability theories.

Reviewing the counterparty's draft?

Paste their NDA. LexDraft's surgical-edit review flags one-sided clauses (standstill without fall-away, asymmetric residuals, missing data-room controls) with severity badges — Critical / High / Medium so you can prioritize.

LexDraft surgical edits flagging issues in an M&A NDA
Surgical edits with severity badges — accept the high-severity ones first.

Faster M&A NDAs, fewer missed clauses

Draft buy-side or sell-side in Word. Standstill, non-solicit, exclusivity — all the deal-specific clauses, all the time.

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