The parties to a merger-of-equals (or a merger-with-an-almost-equal) often divvy up board seats in the merger agreement. Sometimes, the parties simply specify the initial allocation of board seats at the closing, other times the parties lock-in the board seat allocation for a period of time following the closing. The Bank of America/FleetBoston and Anthem/WellPoint deals announced this week each contain the latter sort of lock-in provision.
