Material Adverse Effect clauses The importance of a textual analysis of the contractual language in ascertaining the meaning and effect of Material Adverse Effect (MAE) clauses was emphasised in WEX entered into a share purchase agreement with Travelport to acquire two companies that provided virtual credit and payment services to the travel payments market. Under the MAE clause, conditions resulting from a pandemic could only be taken into account if they had a disproportionate effect on the target companies as compared to other participants in the industries in which the target companies operated. Travelport sought to avoid the transaction by invoking the MAE clause and argued that the relevant industry for comparison was the “travel payments industry”. The court disagreed, holding that the word “industry” suggested a broad pool of participants. It also found that the “travel payments industry” was not a term in established use, but rather referred to informally and with varying meaning. Instead, the relevant industry was the “B2B payments industry”.