A wave of consolidation has been sweeping across the Middle East resulting in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market growing at an unprecedented rate.
An increase in the number and value of deals in the MENA translated to a 68.7 per cent growth in deal value in 2018 to $26.76bn.
And this trend shows no signs of slowing down in 2019 as the merging of three top banks in Abu Dhabi, the cross-country collaboration between Kuwait and Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia’s largest-ever M&A deal are all expected to take place this year.
Given the financial risks these deals often entail, it isn’t surprising that they are preceded by careful evaluation, analysis and due diligence.
While this is done to a high degree of detail when assessing the business implications, it is important for the organisations involved not to overlook the resultant impact on the cybersecurity posture of the new entity.
After all, failure to do so can bear serious consequences as was proven by the data breach of the world’s largest container shipping company, Maersk. The high-profile cyber-attack on the company originated at a remote branch, where the IT environment was not as…
