The Death of Separate Systems for M&A

From the analyst to the managing director to the C-suite, today’s modern dealmaker seeks data-driven intelligence across the deal’s entire life span to reduce risk and drive decisions.

In a centralised deal space, they get visibility across workflow, insights and progress at every step of the way – from smarter strategy, preparation and due diligence through to negotiation, closing and post-deal integration. Most importantly, the work done throughout the transaction can be leveraged to run the entire company on a single platform. Here’s why separate and disparate systems are on their way out.

There’s more to deals than DD

Historically, the earliest stages of deal strategy and preparation have occurred outside a data room – where all the action happens – all but invisible to the majority of those responsible for shifting the needle.

But getting ready for a deal is an arduous and expensive task. High M&A failure rates indicate that businesses still aren’t prepared early enough to seize opportunities. They wait until due diligence is conducted in a data room to unearth all sorts of surprises that could jeopardise the transaction.

Similarly, once a deal is closed, the valuable insights uncovered in due diligence are often left behind in the data room, and not leveraged to join critical dots for a successful integration of the new business entity.

MDs and their teams manually track all their non disclosure agreements across multiple clients from their inbox. Analysts manage document version control in static spreadsheets. Corporate development teams do an early-stage assessment of targets by following files in email threads. Integration teams start from scratch after the deal is signed. None of this activity is optimised; in fact, it’s time-consuming, frustrating and costly.

Working across disparate systems - including insecure emails and out-of-date spreadsheets - amplifies the risks; it can lead to the wrong decisions and affect value.

Centralise, digitise, optimise the full deal lifecycle

Managing deals from end-to-end in a single centralised platform is a game changer. It allows for greater visibility, more efficient project management and collaboration, better reporting and informed decisions backed by data.

Housing all this information in a single deals platform from the very first client engagement ensures it is accessible, up-to-date, and ready to put to use rapidly in the next stages. It takes you from deal strategy, sourcing and preparation into a seamless transition into a virtual data room for due diligence, and all the way through to post-acquisition integration.

Using purpose-built tools like Deal Workflow, MDs and their teams can streamline project management of the earliest stages of outreach, tracking all NDAs and initial information provided across multiple clients simultaneously with a clean dashboard view of progress.

Analysts can manage version control of presentations, pull reporting instantly and demonstrate progress to their seniors.

Deal teams can transition all their structured documentation into the Data Room and be ready to execute with the click of a button.

Once data is centralised, AI technologies can be applied to show how likely a bidder is to complete a transaction with 97 per cent accuracy by day seven of the deal - so teams can quickly respond to drops in interest, negotiate with all the facts, and close the deal faster.

Integration teams can leverage all the information that’s been shared, and build in their own digitised templates to keep integration plans on track and the teams aligned.

Keeping business in its best shape

If a business is in its best shape at the end of the deal - when it’s considered ‘sellable’ - why wait for a transaction?

“What is required for a deal is the same for executing any company strategy. It all comes down to accountability, efficiency, and having the data available for decision making,” says Piet Mouton, chief executive of PSG Group in South Africa.

“It made sense to us to have everything required by executives and boards in a single place. Within a centralised platform, boards and the C-suite have unparalleled access to information and insights that will drive their strategies,” says Sam Riley Ansarada founder and chief executive . “Management is freed up to focus on higher value work, and their teams only need to be educated once on a single, purpose-built system, keeping costs and risks low.”

With their critical information centralised, digitised and optimised, CEOs can be confident they are always ready to act on opportunities and proactively address risks.

Modern deals require modern solutions

Modern deal technology is much more than a data room; it’s a total transaction management solution, supporting all stages of the deal lifecycle and business information governance.

Ansarada Deals™ launches this May. Get started for free today.