A transaction report answers one question: what can be established from official sources about a deal, and at what level of depth. The scope is fixed before payment. The ceiling is stated before the work begins.
Governance — who controls the deal structure, what rights attach to each party, and what the record shows about those rights — runs through every tier. The difference between tiers is not quality. It is depth of source coverage and the number of jurisdictions examined.
What the report coversFiled transaction documents, corporate registry entries, and publicly available financial disclosures relevant to the deal. Sources vary by jurisdiction. Access conditionEach source has its own access regime — registration, national identifier, language, or declaration of legitimate interest may be required depending on jurisdiction. What the report does not coverLegal qualification of the facts established. That function sits outside this product and is stated explicitly in the disclaimer. Price tiersThree fixed tiers: Signal, Standard, Extended. Scope of each is defined below. Price is communicated in response to a request.Three tiers exist because the deal record has layers. Each layer requires different sources, different access steps, and different processing time. The tiers are not interchangeable.
Signal covers the first layer: the existence of the transaction in the public record, the registered parties, and the filing date. This is the minimum check — sufficient to confirm that a deal was registered and that the named parties appear in the relevant registry at the relevant time.
Standard adds the second layer: the terms of the transaction as filed, the corporate structure of each party at the time of signing, and any encumbrances or restrictions recorded against the object. Where financial statements are publicly filed, they are included for the period immediately preceding the transaction.
Extended covers the third layer: multi-jurisdiction verification where the deal spans more than one registry, cross-referencing of filed documents against corporate records, identification of discrepancies between sources, and a structured account of where the chain of information breaks and why.
| Tier | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|
| Signal | Registered parties · filing date · registry confirmation of transaction existence | Terms of the deal · corporate structure of parties · encumbrances · financial statements |
| Standard | All Signal items · filed transaction terms · corporate structure at signing · encumbrances and restrictions · filed financials for the preceding period | Multi-jurisdiction cross-referencing · discrepancy analysis · chain-of-title mapping |
| Extended | All Standard items · multi-jurisdiction verification · cross-source discrepancy analysis · structured account of information gaps and their cause | Legal qualification · advice on enforceability · representation in proceedings |
The governance question — who controls the deal structure and what the shareholder can enforce — is answered differently at each tier.
At Signal level, the record shows that a transaction exists and names the parties. It does not show the terms under which control passes or the conditions attached to that transfer.
At Standard level, the filed terms are examined. Where the filing includes shareholder agreements, voting arrangements, or conditions precedent, those are extracted and recorded. Where they are not filed, that absence is noted.
At Extended level, the governance picture is assembled across sources. A party that appears as a single entity in one registry may appear as a structure in another. The Extended tier maps that structure to the extent the sources permit and states explicitly where the mapping stops.
The ceiling of what the sources allow is stated before payment. This is not a qualification — it is a structural feature of the product.
Official registries record what is filed. They do not record what was agreed but not filed, what was amended informally, or what was structured to avoid a filing obligation. A transaction report covers the filed record. It does not cover the unfiled record, because no source covers it.
Specific limits apply by source type:
The Extended tier does not overcome these limits. It maps them with greater precision and states at which point in the chain each source stops.
Where two sources return conflicting information about the same transaction or party, that discrepancy is itself a result. It is recorded as a finding, not resolved by inference.
Common discrepancy types in transaction records:
At Standard tier, discrepancies within a single jurisdiction are noted. At Extended tier, cross-jurisdiction discrepancies are mapped and their possible sources identified — without legal qualification of what they mean for enforceability.
What determines which tier is appropriate for a given deal? The number of jurisdictions involved, the complexity of the party structure, and the depth of the governance question being examined. A single-jurisdiction transaction with straightforward parties is typically covered at Signal or Standard. A multi-jurisdiction deal with layered ownership structures requires Extended.
Does the report include legal advice on the transaction? No. The report is a factual compilation from official sources. It does not include legal qualification of the facts established, advice on enforceability, or representation. Those functions are separate and are not part of this product.
What happens when a source is unavailable or access is restricted? The report states which source was unavailable, the reason access was not obtained, and what that means for the completeness of the record. An inaccessible source is a finding, not a gap to be filled by inference.
Can the scope be adjusted after the report is commissioned? The scope is fixed at the tier selected. If additional sources or jurisdictions are required, that is addressed through a separate instruction. The original tier is not retroactively expanded.
How is the filing date different from the effective date? The filing date is the date the document was submitted to the registry. The effective date is the date stated in the document as the date on which the transaction takes effect. These may differ. Both are recorded where both appear in the source.
What is the turnaround time? Turnaround depends on the tier and the jurisdictions covered. It is confirmed at the time the request is submitted, not before, because registry response times vary by jurisdiction and cannot be guaranteed in advance.
Official corporate registries, insolvency registers, and filed financial disclosure databases — accessed per jurisdiction covered by the instruction. Specific registries are identified in the report for each jurisdiction examined. No single consolidated source covers all jurisdictions; the source list is transaction-specific.
Where a source is public and free of charge, that is stated in the report. What the fee covers in those cases is the removed path: registration, national identifier, language, electronic signature, and declaration of legitimate interest where required.
Disclaimer: This report is a factual compilation from official registers and public sources. It is provided for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and contains no legal qualification of the facts established. VLO Law Firm assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@vlolawfirm.com.
Author: Elena Moretti — Partner, Continental Europe, VLO Law Firm