The last few years were a dream run for the global M&A market, especially the period after the Covid-19 pandemic. 2021 was the most historic year in the long history of the industry, with net deals worth $5.9 trillion.
Another trend that emerged during this period was processing mergers and acquisitions on virtual platforms. A study revealed that 87% of organizations successfully managed their deals over virtual channels, and 55% of study participants anticipated that online platforms would be a preference in the post-pandemic era.
Tools like Google Workspace and Microsoft SharePoint are not as effective in managing mega transactions. That is why the corporate world has turned to something more specific and comprehensive, like virtual data rooms.
What is an M&A virtual data room?
An M&A data room is a virtual, cloud-based document sharing and storage platform used to facilitate mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and transactions alike.
Data room software gives dealmakers the luxury to safely share voluminous amounts of information, ensure safer communication, and manage and track all the processes in an M&A on a single platform.
Modern-day m&a data rooms boast advanced features for deal tracking, due diligence, and post-merger integrations.
The biggest argument for advocating online data room software for M&As is the type of digital protection it provides. VDRs are not ordinary data storage platforms by any means; they have a banking-grade digital security system. Only vendors certified by global and regional bodies like ISO, FINRA, HIPAA, SOC, and GDPR host virtual data rooms.
With M&A activity expected to increase in coming years, here is how you can leverage electronic data room services to improve your deals.
How virtual data rooms can improve M&A transactions?
“Virtual data rooms, as guardians of confidential data, strengthen confidence, facilitate decision-making, and open the way to successful transactions. They reveal a new horizon where M&As transcend the boundaries of time and place, and their relevance in this digital age is simply undeniable,” says Terry Snyder, Co-Founder of data rooms-review.com — an expert data room review and comparison platform.
You can read more about M&A data room vendors and see what makes each of them stand out at: https://datarooms-review.com/m-and-a/
Ensure a secure transaction
Mergers and acquisitions, by nature, are data-oriented transactions that involve the constant sharing of tons of data with multiple parties. A seller without a fully secure and controlled data-sharing platform may overshare/accidentally share highly sensitive information, resulting in disastrous results.
Therefore, the security of a data-sharing platform is paramount. Virtual data rooms are capable of protecting your information at all levels and giving you the control you want. You can set the data access level user-by-user; no one will be able to access your data unless you explicitly allow them to do so.
What’s more, data rooms allow you to store and share information in encrypted form (256-bit SSL encryption). That means even if an unauthorized user enters the VDR (which is highly unlikely), your data will still be safe. You can also protect your documents via digital watermarks and prevent unsolicited viewing through the fence-view feature.
Track your deal with ease and save time
Time is the most important element in any M&A deal, and it ultimately proves to be a decisive factor in successfully closing a deal.
Traditionally, the due diligence phase was time-consuming mainly due to repeat requests, document shipping, misplaced documents, and the ability to deal with one client at a time. Thanks to modern-day data room vendors, things are faster.
With virtual data rooms, you can:
- Assign, track, and manage tasks and people involved in the transaction
- Eliminate repeat tasks and automate processes
- Share, access, and analyze documents instantly
- Communicate with anyone over secure channels anytime
- Conduct planned and emergency meetings
- Deal with multiple buyers at once
Better understanding the deal health
The sell side is usually in talks with multiple buyers at a time. However, not every buyer shows the same level of interest in going further. How can the seller assess whether a buyer is interested or just wasting time?
Thankfully, data room providers nowadays provide advanced analytics features which allow you to monitor all the activities in the VDR. Sellers can easily see what type of documents a potential buyer accessed or viewed and how often they do it.
What’s more, analytics allow sellers to determine buyers’ preferences so they can ensure that buyers can easily access their desired information.
These analytics also allow buyers to:
- Minimize any hurdles
- Remove unnecessary or least-viewed documents, and
- Eliminate process inefficiencies
Minimize costs
Last but not least, virtual data rooms eliminate the costs associated with:
- Need for paper documents and their multiple copies, thus minimizing paper costs
- Shipping costs
- Printing and compiling costs
- Physical meeting and traveling costs
Summing it up
Virtual data rooms maximize the chances of successful mergers and acquisitions by streamlining due diligence, providing insights into buyer behavior, simplifying the data-sharing process, improving communication, and minimizing transaction costs. Some of the best virtual data room providers for M&As include Ansarada, iDeals, Intralinks, and DealRoom.
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