Merger and acquisition transactions require a number of documents, and these types of business transactions may include sensitive information. Due diligence can be a long and complex process that requires multiple people to look over different documents. VDRs help streamline the process, while providing increased security and visibility.
One of the biggest benefits that VDRs provide to M&A processes is their capacity to track activities on files and folders. This can be helpful in determining which parties are most active in a particular area of the diligence process. It can also help weed out potential buyers who are not interested or have issues. A good VDR for M&A will let users determine how much time each potential buyer spends looking through certain documents from the company and also whether they’ve downloaded or printed any documents.
Workflow and organization tools are also crucial aspects of the VDR. Some of them will allow for tagging documents to indicate that they’re scheduled for integration during the due diligence process, which is a great way to begin planning ahead for any post-deal issues. Additionally, a lot of higher-level VDRs for M&A use will employ artificial intelligence to improve workflow and organization, which could eliminate significant amounts of work for management teams that are overwhelmed during the due diligence process.
When choosing the right VDR to support M&A transactions, make sure that it was specifically designed for this kind of business transaction. For example, DealRoom is built by M&A experts and combines VDRs that have an Agile-based project management platform that can cater to the specific needs of this kind of business transaction. Other good alternatives for VDRs made specifically for M&A are Firmex and Merrill but they provide few additional features that cater to the unique requirements of this kind of transaction.