Review the effective governing agreement and relevant provisions establishing the actual participation rights.
Read amendments as well as summaries
A marketing description of investor involvement may not capture the binding terms. Identify the operative rights and do not rely on a superseded version of the agreement.
Start from the original event that generated the funds and document the ownership, transfers, account movements and any currency conversions from that point through to the actual investment, preserving the real dates and amounts. The years of corporate tax returns and financial statements that explain the company's income, the shareholder or partnership agreement, the valuation and the signed buyout agreement. The governing documents control: the limited partnership or operating agreement, the loan note and any guarantee or security instrument, the subscription agreement, and the risk factors in the offering memorandum. Where a portion of the capital comes from another person, that person must document how they lawfully obtained it, through their own tax filings, business records or sale documents, and the transfer itself needs a deed or agreement and matching account entries on both sides. Where gifts, loans, inheritances or asset sales are involved, provide their real terms, since a narrative cannot substitute for a transfer or agreement that was never actually documented. Build a dated review file around sale agreements, tax and banking records, gift or loan instruments where relevant, transfer trail, subscription papers, and job evidence.