Merrill DataSite Reports Record M&A Activity and Volume in the First Half of 2010

NEW YORK, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Merrill DataSite, the leading virtual data room provider solutions for business communication and information management, today reported a record number of M&A transactions for the first half of 2010 in the United States.

According to an analysis of M&A transactions conducted by Merrill DataSite:

Deals over $1BN - Up 95 percent YTD

Deals $500M - $1BN - Up 97 percent YTD

Deals $100M - $500M - Up 64 percent YTD

"We are seeing the largest increase and the highest volume of M&A in recent history," said Richard A. Martin Jr., Senior Director of Merrill DataSite. "The fact that we have seen the most active six months of M&A activity in recent years leads us to believe that the remainder of 2010 will continue to be a busy year for companies looking either to acquire or to sell."

While 2010 has been a strong year for M&A, Q2 saw a 54 percent increase in $1BN-plus deals.

In Merrill DataSite's deal space, while a comparison of deal flow in 2010 to the dismal activity in 2009 shows an obvious increase.

At the same time, Merrill DataSite is finding that these transactions are requiring more data flow and exchange than ever before, an indicator of the increase in M&A due diligence. Thus far, the amount of documents reviewed increased 127 percent.

"Not only are the deals larger, but the scrutiny is higher," Martin said. "We have seen a huge increase in the amount of documents being shared between companies that are looking to execute a transaction. More documents mean more due diligence and valuation to ensure successful transactions by all parties."

For more information on Merrill DataSite, please visit www.datasite.com.

Merrill DataSite (www.datasite.com) is a secure virtual data room (VDR) solution that optimizes the due diligence process by providing a highly efficient and secure method to share key business information between multiple parties.

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SOURCE Merrill DataSite