The term mergers and acquisitions (M&A) refers to companies’ consolidation of their major business assets through financial transactions between companies. The conduction of these processes became a science rather than an art. According to statistics, nearly 40, 000 M&A deals were completed worldwide in 2023.
What are mergers and acquisitions?
A merger is a transaction in which two similar-sized companies agree to legally unite to form a single, new entity for restructuring, company growth, development of new products, or entry into new markets. There are two types of merger strategies — horizontal and vertical integrations.
While an acquisition involves a larger company buying a smaller one. Acquisitions are divided into public and private transactions, depending on whether the target companies appear in a public stock market. The acquiring company retains its name and organizational structure.
Many M&A deals have achieved what they set out to do at the beginning — to reshape industries on the strength of a single deal. Much can be learned from famous mergers. The top mergers and acquisitions take into consideration best practices. The right technology and tools can make deals more successful.
M&A deals involve many repetitive and tedious tasks, such as document requests and reviews, which prolong the process and make it efficient. However, data rooms are a great solution, allowing users to work effectively throughout the deal lifecycle.
The role of virtual data rooms in M&A
A virtual data room (VDR) is an online platform used to store and share relevant company files. An M&A data room is a secure repository that potential buyers and sellers use during mergers and acquisitions. Virtual data rooms simplify the M&A process of approaching and preparing for the deal.
Benefits of virtual data rooms for M&A transactions
Virtual data room solutions can bring much value to companies involved in M&A deals. Here are the most important benefits of using virtual data rooms for mergers and acquisitions:
- Streamlined data management. The dataroom software can store large amounts of files. Data room providers allow users to import due diligence data from other digital sources directly without compromising their categorization. The auto-indexing feature simplifies the search process when finding a file from numerous documents.
- Regulatory compliance. Virtual data room providers employ protective measures to ensure compliance with regulatory authorities. VDRs help to serve challenging compliance requirements dealmakers face.
- Data protection. Data security is significant in virtual data rooms for mergers and acquisitions. The software provides encrypted data sharing, prevents unauthorized users from accessing documents, removes suspicious users from the data room, and protects sensitive information.
- Safe and fast communication. Safe and real-time communication is one more important aspect of successful M&A transactions. VDRs provide their users with a secure and centralized platform to communicate. The software simplifies collaboration benefitting from integrated communication tools, such as video calls, Q&A chat, and messaging.
- Time and cost savings. Using virtual data room software eliminates the need to travel for document reviews, or to rent physical data rooms, as information is stored in the accessible cloud.
- Ease of use. Most VDRs have a user-friendly, intuitive interface. Their helpful features are multilingual access, single-on, and mobile apps.
When to use a VDR during M&A transactions
Due diligence is the foundation of any successful M&A deal. It is the process of assessing the commercial potential and value via documentation analysis. A virtual data room is necessary to streamline the due diligence phase of any M&A deal. Due diligence is only one phase among five stages of M&A:
- Pre-negotiation. At this stage, potential purchasers enter a non-disclosure agreement to protect the seller’s sensitive data.
- Assessment. The selling party sets up access controls to regulate document viewing and assign permissions to authorized users.
- Due diligence. A buyer’s team accesses a data room to review the target company’s information.
- Closing the deal. Both sides sign the purchase agreement, which means the deal closure.
- Post-closure integration. A VDR serves as a data repository for both teams to exchange documents for integration.
Preparations before using a virtual data room for M&A
To benefit from a virtual data room for mergers and acquisitions the software should overcome some preparations:
- Gather and structure files. Identify all necessary data and organize by categories, create a plan for a VDR.
- Assign admins. Focus on admin duties. They include setting document access, inviting users, maintaining the VDR, etc.
- Upload the documents. Upload all relevant files which can be used during the deal lifecycle.
- Invite authorized users. Give essential users access to the virtual data room and track their activity to avoid leaks.
- Continue maintaining the data room. Keep documents up-to-date, manage comments and questions in the Q&A section, and manage user permissions.
Conclusion
Today businesses undergoing mergers and acquisitions choose virtual data rooms more frequently than physical ones to store files and share them with buyers. It is because they offer better security levels and collaboration features that allow stakeholders to assess files from any part of the world without the risk of data breaches.
