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Conducting a merger and acquisition (M&A) comes with significant risks in compliance, cultural governance, and challenges presented by the union of different technologies and capabilities. In the realm of entity management, this impact is especially significant. Imagine adding additional jurisdictions overnight and all of the regulatory and legal rules that come with it. Regardless of which side of the table you sit on during an M&A event, having solid best entity management practices is a must before signing any deal.
In short, an M&A is a transaction that either transfers or merges ownership of an entity with that of another. This complex process requires intensive governance management, administrative maintenance, records, and regulatory compliance. Needless to say, numerous departments are involved in addressing the responsibilities of such corporate changes, and if involving multiple geographical regions, matters can become more challenging.
This reality of M&As is why parties to these events should follow best practices for entity management throughout the process. The cost-savings are undeniable when considering how streamlined data gathering access is, which ensures that filings and publications are done correctly from the start. Imagine the time-savings as well because errors are found more efficiently, thus saving precious budget dollars from expensive non-compliance penalties.
There is a myriad of issues that arise during an M&A, but the three below are the most frequent:
After merging with a new organization, companies are immediately tasked with integrating different governance and compliance efforts. Typically, this involves specially designed technology platforms and determining which should be kept. It's a commonplace occurrence for auditing to occur during this transition period to aid in choosing which system addresses the needs of the newly merged entity.
When an M&A includes operations located in different territories, it is critical to avoid a fragmented approach to regulatory compliance. This is because risk can become hard to visualize when business branches operate under various regulations and laws. As a result, there is a higher risk for missing information and errors in these situations, leading to poor compliance control.
A vital aspect of any merger and acquisition is due diligence. It’s a prerequisite, but missing or inaccurate information can compromise this effort. Tasks and documentation associated with this component of an M&A include:
As you can see from the critical nature of this information, any M&A could fail if any is missing. If your entity is open to merger opportunities, ensure your organization is ready for these complex transactions and can provide the acquirer with high-quality data from the beginning. This ensures they know exactly what they are purchasing and can streamline the entire process.
Another common challenge that entities face after an M&A has taken place is the rationalization phase of the process. This is an essential step that can yield cost savings, mitigate risks of the transaction, and create a cohesive entity structure that is lean. Failing to take this necessary step can lead to the development of redundancies and other additional steps and tasks that impede the efficiency of your operation.
To avoid the time-consuming process of maintaining siloed work systems resulting from incongruent technologies between merging or acquired organizations, centralizing all departments through state-of-the-art entity management software is essential. This helps eliminate the need for manual processes such as phone tag between team members trying to get information or even sending multiple email requests for critical data.
Athennian entity management software enables in-house legal teams to be efficient, swift, and accurate through the use of automation and digital tools, including:
The goal of entity management software is to do more than ensure M&A best practices are met but to increase the efficiency of an organization for the long term. For example, through secure cloud hosting, general counsel and their team members can access records and request information from one location instead of multiple avenues with varying security capabilities.
Finally, to ensure sound governance practices are facilitated after an M&A has occurred, the use of entity management enables legal departments and their companies to report better and assess risk and accountability.
Empower your legal team to take on a more significant role in your organization's M&A endeavors with an entity practice management solution by Athennian. With our cloud-based system, our clients have achieved and maintained a new level of M&A best practices:
Discover a new level of entity management during crucial M&A activities. Book your customized demo today!
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"Very easy to use, modern interface, excellent support. Athennian has an amazing conversion team. They helped us migrate all of our data and the training was very good."
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“When we were reviewing other entity management systems on the market, in some cases, we were not comparing apples to apples. But with Athennian, there was really no comparison. The paralegals were so excited to come on board.”
"There are so many things I like about this program, but the one thing that really stands out is the user friendly interface. The program is fast and allows me to enter corporate information very quickly and efficiently. I would also like to note that Athennian provides the most the fantastic customer service."
