From November/December 2010 Les Dossiers de la Chambre, a message from FACC-Chicago's Executive Director Emmanuèle van Houdenhoven:

Dear FACC-Chicago community,

“Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé,” and I could not have been happier to be part of its yearly return than at Passport to France, where I officially celebrated the event in the beautifully paneled ballroom of the Union League Club as the newly appointed Executive Director of the French American Chamber of Commerce. I was born and raised in the southwest of France’s Bordeaux Region, so needless to say, I found it ironic to be celebrating the start of my new professional life in Chicago surrounded by Georges Duboeuf’s bottles of Beaujolais!

The evening was far too short. I would have liked to have personally greeted every one of our 435 guests and tasted every bit of the fabulous food offered by our talented chefs.  Thank you again to each of our participating restaurants and sponsors – we are delighted to organize an event each year that showcases your creativity and talents.

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Feature Article:

Earn-Out Clause: Boosting Business Sales and Purchases in France and the U.S.

Due to the global economic crisis, the sale and purchase of businesses in the United States and France has drastically declined.  In an effort to boost sales, business owners in both countries have begun adding earn-out clauses to their contractual agreements. Earn-out clauses applied to sales contracts in France are not subject to any specific regulations, though they must comply with certain non-negotiable rules, especially those related to price.

The earn-out clause sets a portion of the price contingent upon the business achieving future financial goals. The buyer is interested in purchasing his future business at x value, a value that has depreciated due to the economic crisis. The seller, however, is convinced that his business is worth more than its depreciated market worth. The seller is also convinced that his business's profitability will improve substantially at some future point after the sale. 
The earn-out clause is designed to accommodate both the buyer and seller's interests.

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