Before completing an M&A transaction, acquiring firms conduct due diligence. This process provides acquiring firms with a more informed assessment of the expected costs, benefits, and risks of an acquisition and offers one last opportunity to renegotiate or terminate an M&A transaction. However,...

Before completing an M&A transaction, acquiring firms conduct due diligence. This process provides acquiring firms with a more informed assessment of the expected costs, benefits, and risks of an acquisition and offers one last opportunity to renegotiate or terminate an M&A transaction. However,...

The goal of this paper is to unpack the underlying friction between the need to facilitate due diligence in share acquisition transactions that could place inside information in the acquirer's hands, and at the same time to ensure that such information is not misused by the acquirer to the...