Market Insight - Paving the way for M&A
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
One of the foremost critical thoughts in preparing for a merger or acquisition is the management of confidential information. Since the lifeblood of any biotechnology company is its IP, great care must be taken to ensure that confidential information is not prematurely disclosed. Accordingly, in the early stages of discussions it is important to ensure that only information that is in the public domain is revealed. Indeed, it may be damaging for a company to reveal that it is even thinking of being sold, as that might be only one of the options under consideration. In those circumstances, a third party can be used to send out non-confidential information on a no-names basis. Once the time has come to provide confidential information, the company will require any prospective purchasers to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) under which the prospective purchasers agree not to disclose any confidential information that the company provides in relation to the proposed sale. Even with an NDA in place, vendors may wish to hold back key information until after it has received an offer from a prospective purchaser.