By Anurag Kahol, CTO, Bitglass
Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are a significant driver of business activity, with over $4 trillion of deals taking place in 2019, according to data from Dealogic. They can offer firms a range of significant opportunities, ranging from accelerating growth, competitive advantage – or increasingly – to acquire technology.
Despite the impact of current pandemic, M&A momentum appears relatively undiminished, with a recent survey suggesting that 86% of senior M&A decision-makers across a variety of sectors expect M&A activity to increase in their region in 2020 – with 50% expecting to do more deals if a downturn arrives.
Central to the process is due diligence, where the primary focus is on finance, legal, business operations, and human resources functions and data. However, as pointed out by Deloitte in its ‘2020 M&A Trends Report’, “. . . some regulatory issues are growing more prominent in M&A, such as data privacy. The bar continues to rise for the level of care that companies must take to protect personal and financial information.”
As Deloitte also points out, the risks presented by cybersecurity weaknesses are relevant to the M&A…
