Mergers are back on the agenda again, with trust boards and leaders considering if it’s right to keep looking to grow their trusts or to come together with another trust. In this article, Wrigleys Solicitors take an extensive look at what we mean by a merger, some of the legal implications they present, and a number of key questions trust boards and leaders should be asking themselves before they go further.
Mergers between academy trusts have become and are increasingly common for various reasons. Some take place as a result of intervention or re-brokerage by the Regional Director. Others are the result of an independent decision by trusts to join together for the ultimate benefit of their students. Many features of the merger process are common to both scenarios. However, in this article we focus on those key aspects which trust boards and leaders themselves will need to consider (where the merger is an independent or voluntary decision), to help in ensuring it is a success.
Terminology
While ‘merger’ is commonly used to describe the process whereby two trusts come together, the term can be misleading. Mergers can be structured in different ways, for example where two separate entities transfer their assets and staff into a new third entity and the two original entities are then wound up.
However, in academy trust mergers it is more often the case that one trust transfers all of its assets and staff (comprising all of the academies which are part of that trust) to the other trust. It is therefore more accurate to describe the process as a series of academy transfers from one trust to the other. While the process may therefore be referred to as a merger, for ease and perhaps also to best describe the purpose and intent, it is nonetheless important to understand the practicalities, which will inform your understanding, as trust leaders, of the various steps involved in the process.
Please note Wrigley’s Solicitors are part of a paid for partnership with Forum Strategy. When selecting our partners we do so with careful reference to their expertise and their ethos and values.
