one less loose end in your deal.

agree the job before collecting the files.

After the LOI, agree who is commissioning the insurance review, who may receive it, the intended close date, and how the target will share confidential records. Confirm engagement terms and any fees. A vague request for an insurance report leaves everyone guessing about the deliverable.

Tell your broker about the proposed ownership structure, the operating companies, financing, and any existing program the business might join. Share the structure as it stands, and flag what counsel or the capital partner has not settled.

• Seller contact and secure document-sharing route
• Buyer, lender, counsel, and capital-partner contacts
• Decision dates, deliverable recipients, and open structure questions

separate the cost question from the coverage question.

Ask two different things: what will the business cost to insure under your ownership, and what needs to happen so the intended coverage is in place? A cheaper seller policy does not answer either question by itself.

Build a cost bridge from the seller’s records to the buyer’s assumptions. Separately, identify relevant policy conditions, exclusions, claims, and transaction-related actions. Transaction insurance, including R&W, belongs in its own discussion rather than standing in for the operating insurance review.

References: Marsh: insurance due diligence

make the update useful to your capital partner.

A useful update fits the decision being made. Lead with the annual budget, any one-time expenses or cash commitments, and the issues that could change the closing plan. Then show the evidence and assumptions behind those conclusions.

If the insurer still needs information, say what is missing and who will obtain it. Do not turn an indicative estimate into a committed number simply because the investment memo needs a clean table. Agree who may rely on the review and what further work is outside its scope.

close the loop, not just the transaction.

Before closing, reconcile the agreed plan to the insurer’s actual confirmation, policy dates, required payments, and any outstanding conditions. Have counsel resolve responsibility for historical liabilities and transaction expenses in the deal documents.

After closing, give the operating team the policy record, claim-reporting contacts, renewal dates, and remaining tasks. The person running payroll or reporting a claim should not have to reconstruct the acquisition email thread.

• Coverage evidence and unresolved conditions recorded
• Claims and reporting contacts introduced
• Open tasks accepted by a named post-close owner

a workplan your deal team can use.

Use these as coordination checkpoints, not fixed turnaround promises. Set the dates around your actual transaction.