--- title: Change of Control Contract Review for M&A | Aavenir url: https://aavenir.com/use-cases/change-of-control-review/ description: Before a deal closes, find every agreement that needs consent or notice on a change of control or assignment, cited to the clause and ranked by value. updated: 2026-11-07 --- [Home](https://aavenir.com/) / [Use cases](https://aavenir.com/use-cases/) / Change of control review Use case ยท Change of control review # Which agreements need consent in an acquisition? Aavenir Atlas reads every agreement loaded for the deal and returns the ones that need consent, notice or allow termination when ownership changes, ranked by value and cited to the clause. The deal team sees the relationships at risk before signing, not after closing. Definition ## What is a change of control review? A change of control review finds the contracts that react when ownership of a party changes: agreements that need consent, require notice, allow termination or restrict assignment, so the deal team knows which relationships are at risk before closing. The wording is the problem. One contract says change of control, another treats a merger as an assignment, a third hides the right in a termination clause, and an amendment from 2021 changed the threshold. Diligence teams under time pressure read the largest contracts and sample the rest. [Aavenir Atlas](https://aavenir.com/solutions/ai-contract-intelligence/) asks the same question of every agreement loaded and cites the clause behind each answer. - Change of control, assignment and merger language found across the portfolio - Consent, notice only and termination rights reported separately - Results ranked by contract value, with each clause cited - Legal confirms each finding before it goes to the deal team - Consents become owned tasks with the signed consent as evidence Why it leaks ## How consents get missed in a deal. ### Different words, same right Change of control, assignment by operation of law and merger clauses all need reading. ### Amendments override A later amendment adds or removes the consent right, and the master alone gives the wrong answer. ### Sampled, not read The top contracts by value get read, and a small agreement with a termination right does not. ### Chased in a spreadsheet Consent requests go out by email, and nobody can say which ones came back signed. How it works ## From the deal question to signed consents. - Plain language: which agreements react to a change of control at Adatum Masters, amendments and related agreements read together Each answer links to the clause a reader can open. - Consent required before closing Notice required, before or after closing Counterparty may terminate on a change of control. - Results sorted by annual value or revenue at stake Atlas suggests the next best question, such as which consents are deal critical Legal confirms each finding before it reaches the deal team. - Each consent becomes an Obligationflow task with an owner and a date The counterparty's signed consent files to the task by email Overdue consents escalate to the next person in one click. Questions ## Talk to a contract expert Bring a few sample agreements. We will show you Aavenir AI reading them, on ServiceNow or standalone. Schedule a demo ## Deal reviews, by product and team [Aavenir Atlas The product behind this use case Learn more](https://aavenir.com/solutions/ai-contract-intelligence/)[Legal Clause work without the bottleneck Learn more](https://aavenir.com/solutions/legal-contract-management/)[CFO, CPO, GC and CIO Portfolio questions when a deal is live Learn more](https://aavenir.com/solutions/contract-intelligence-for-executives/) Frequently asked questions (FAQ) ## Common questions ### ### What is a change of control clause? A change of control clause sets what happens to a contract when ownership of a party changes, typically through an acquisition or merger. It may require the other party's consent, require notice, or give the other party a right to terminate. Assignment clauses can have the same effect. [See legal contract management](https://aavenir.com/solutions/legal-contract-management/). ### ### How do you find contracts that need consent in an acquisition? Ask the same question of every agreement, including amendments, for change of control, assignment and merger language, then separate consent from notice and termination rights. Atlas does this across the portfolio, cites each clause and ranks the results by value for legal to confirm. [Explore Atlas](https://aavenir.com/solutions/ai-contract-intelligence/). ### ### Can Atlas review the target's contracts during due diligence? Atlas reads the agreements loaded into it, so a deal team can run the same consent question across the target's contracts once they are loaded under the deal's confidentiality terms. Customer contract data is never used to train external models. [Read the security page](https://aavenir.com/security/). ### ### Is Atlas available for a live deal now? Atlas is in early access, by invitation. Aavenir loads a sample of your signed agreements, your legal and corporate development teams ask their real questions for 14 days, and you keep the findings report, ranked by value with each clause cited. [Request early access](https://aavenir.com/solutions/ai-contract-intelligence/#early-access). Have a question we have not answered? [Ask the Expert](https://aavenir.com/contact/) Schedule a demo ## See your contracts run on one record. - **1****A 30 minute walkthrough**Built around your team, whether that is procurement, legal, IT or finance. - **2****Your contracts, not ours**Bring a few sample agreements and watch Aavenir AI extract and review them. - **3****ServiceNow or standalone**We show the deployment that fits the systems you already run. Prefer to talk first? [Contact the team](https://aavenir.com/contact/). The form did not load. [Contact the team](https://aavenir.com/contact/) instead, or refresh the page.