A normal M&A process ebbs and flows, whether on the buy-side or sell-side.

There are moments of relative calm when a deal appears unlikely to materialize, as well as periods of frenetic activity when players need various pieces of information immediately at once.

How to Set Up a Virtual Data Room for Mergers and Acquisitions

Purchasing purpose-built data room platforms is an excellent investment, but it is only the first step: the virtual data room must next be configured for optimal efficiency.

We look at numerous approaches for arranging data rooms with FirmRoom data rooms, but most will look somewhat like this:

How to set up a data room for an M&A deal

• Before you begin, make a schematic of the virtual data room. Assign access to the appropriate persons.

• Make a file system that is organized.

• Add current and relevant documents.

• Continue to interact with the virtual data room

This article delves deeper into these processes, demonstrating how an organized approach is the most effective method to get the most out of your virtual data room.

Before you start, make a schematic of the virtual data room

As we discussed in a previous piece, sketching out how you want your virtual data room to appear before the M&A process starts pays off.

As previously said, this not only helps you to work more quickly once you’ve invested in a VDR, but it also forces you to consider which documents you’ll need and who should have access to them.

As mentioned in the last post, this is generally only a preliminary draft, but having one ensures you’re not putting together your virtual data room on the fly.

Begin by drawing small squares to symbolize the primary files on a sheet of paper, and then write the files you intend to be added right immediately beneath.

After you’ve completed this, you should have a better idea of who you want to grant access to each of the files.

Assign appropriate persons access

When granting access to the virtual data room, it’s critical to strike a balance: In principle (and frequently in practice), inviting more individuals leads to more transparency and communication.

Having too many individuals involved, on the other hand, increases the danger of devastating data breaches both inside and beyond the firm. Every additional individual recruited to the group, like anything else, has a declining return, thus this is something to consider.

Here are some things to think about before granting access:

• Offer buyers restricted access – even if they’ve signed an NDA, you don’t want to give casual purchasers access to all of the material in the virtual data room.

• If you have a ‘Human Resources’ folder with contract data, it cannot be shared with anybody other than the HR department and top management.

• If there are any pending commercial or financial transactions, these should be strictly limited as well. It’s okay to communicate them with purchasers, but make sure the identities of the organizations involved are disguised.

These are only a few of the factors to consider when allocating access, but they, along with a few others, should be at the forefront of your mind when designing a systemized file system.

Make a file system that is organized

This stage should go swiftly if you’ve drawn out a decent schematic of how your virtual data room should look.