My name is Janelle Dixon, and I'm a director in the shareholder advisory group here at SRS Acquiom. Prior to joining SRS Acquiom, I was a litigator in a commercial litigation firm.
In this particular situation, this was a life sciences technology group that had been acquired by an international buyer. The deal included an upfront payment along with three separate milestones that would be paid out in the event. Certain milestones were hit. Initially, the first milestone was easily attained. Everyone was extremely excited and ecstatic about the work that had been put into the technology. But shortly thereafter, it became clear that perhaps the second two milestones were not going to be hit, and perhaps buyer was not adhering to the terms outlined by the merger.
Selling a business is scary, and when you approach a situation where a buyer has gone blank and isn't answering your questions, that can become even scarier. The thing that sets SRS Acquiom apart in dealing with cases like this is our in-house experts. So we aren't farming out work. We are working hard to understand the issues. We're not project managing the issues. Instead, we're rolling up our sleeves and getting involved. We're asking the tough questions before problems arise, and then we're solving the problem once they've been identified.
On behalf of the shareholders, we effectuated timely communication. We spearheaded the strategy of the litigation process. We negotiated costs on their behalf, and we attended the arbitration on their behalf. Shareholders know that SRS Acquiom is not going to abandon them. We're not going to leave them hanging. We're gonna see them through and we're gonna guide them in a way that leads them to a resolution that everyone can be happy with.
So at the end of the arbitration process, we received an award on behalf of the shareholders for approximately $73 million. That award included a milestone payout recovery of attorney's fees, recovery of interest, and cost associated with bringing the claim. Problem solved.