Tag Archive for: M&A

Prioritizing risk in M&A due diligence in the COVID-19 era, and beyond

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Cybersecurity Drive | March 22, 2021

The recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic had a chilling effect on economic activity, as companies determined next steps. For some, the solution to weather the contraction was to limit spending, while others accelerated innovation and technology adoption.

The good news is that there is nowhere to go but up. There is likely to be significant pent up demand in the coming year for M&As. In fact, a global survey of 250 senior M&A executives conducted by law firm White & Case LLP found dealmakers are optimistic about the outlook for M&A activity, with three-quarters saying they expect M&A activity to increase in their region in the coming year.

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Industry Experts Provide Tips For Successful Cyber Diligence in M&A

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Security Boulevard | September 26, 2019

Mergers and acquisitions can be successful growth strategies for many companies. They bring together customers, IP, and assets — but they also bring together liabilities and risk as well. Among these are cybersecurity risks. “Cyber diligence” — cybersecurity evaluations performed as part of the M&A decision-making processes — has grown in importance in recent years.  What are a company’s vulnerabilities? What cybersecurity issues or incidents have they had in the past, and how have they dealt with them? What defenses do they have in place to protect themselves? Are all important questions to ask in an M&A deal. But even if you’re not involved with a merger or acquisition, the same analysis can yield important and surprising results.

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The Board’s Role in Managing Cybersecurity Risks

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MIT Sloan Management Review | November 16, 2017

Ray Rothrock (RedSeal), James Kaplan (McKinsey & Co.), and Friso van der Oord (National Association of Corporate Directors) write that cybersecurity can no longer be the concern of just the IT department. Within organizations, it needs to be everyone’s business — including the board’s.

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Yahoo Suffers Major Data Breach Deja Vu

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E-COMMERCE TIMES and TECHNEWS WORLD | December 16, 2016

Yahoo on Wednesday revealed that Net bandits stole data associated with 1 billion of its user accounts — one of the largest data breaches in Internet history.

The theft, which occurred in August 2013, is distinct from the theft disclosed earlier this fall, in which 500 million accounts were compromised, Yahoo CISO Bob Lord explained.

 

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Yahoo-Verizon Deal May Be Complicated By Historic Hack

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CNBC | September 22, 2016

Yahoo faces fallout from lawmakers, users and even Verizon following what could be the biggest data breach in history.

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Make Cybersecurity an Essential Part of M&A Due Diligence

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INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR | June 2, 2016

2015 was certainly a bumper year for M&As.  It’s a sure bet that before any of the 2015 M&A deals went through, the buyers looked very carefully at their “target” companies. They will have gone through a comprehensive appraisal and due diligence process that lasted from a few months to a year.

Buyers and their agents (auditors, lawyers and bankers) will have had a pretty exhaustive evaluation checklist – review software licenses, audit financials, inspect buildings, count inventory, validate the value of intangible assets, look at intellectual property, and — the step that’s caused about half of my companies some heartburn — determine if all the shareholders can be contacted and notified. As an investor, I have pretty extensive experience in this process, having been involved in some 34 acquisitions; and one all too common oversight that I am resolute in ensuring makes it to the checklist is cyber security.

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