Data protection issues in M&A transactions

Data from 2015 and 2016 show that M&A transactions in Europe are gradually gaining momentum and slowly returning to the pre-financial crisis level. This article aims to pinpoint the most important data processing issues and risks that should be mitigated in typical M&A transactions. The article provides with the review what are data protection regulatory obligations of participants in the M&A transaction including the seller, the target, the buyer and their advisors in different phases of the M&A transactions, namely (i) the preliminary phase when a Memorandum of Understanding is being signed, (ii) the due diligence phase, (iii) the phase of the negotiation of the transaction documents, and (iv) the post signing and closing phase of the M&A transaction.