Here’s an excerpt from this Akin Gump blog:

Companies are at increased risk during the time of an acquisition:

– They may not be fully investing in updates and system upgrades.
– Data shows an average of 200+ days for companies to detect advanced persistent threats, so the impact of a cyber deficiency in an acquired company may not be visible immediately.
– The acquirer may not be engaged sufficiently on cyber and information technology issues immediately after its investment to catch weaknesses and allocate resources quickly.

Directors who serve on multiple boards of directors face special issues:

– Cybersecurity is an enterprise risk management issue that must be evaluated to meet fiduciary duty standards.
– Boards cannot simply rely on management, and they should be aware of comparative cybersecurity practices with other companies on whose boards they serve.

Tune in tomorrow for the webcast – “Activist Profiles and Playbooks” – to hear Bruce Goldfarb of Okapi Partners, Damien Park of Hedge Fund Solutions and Renee Soto of Sard Verbinnen identify who the activists are – and what makes them tick.

From Cooley, here’s a list of Top 10 M&A developments and trends for 2016. Here’s an excerpt:

Private equity buyers, which have been relatively quieter in the markets due to high valuations, will likely be more active in 2016, as they seek new opportunities to buy unwanted assets or businesses (including those needing to be divested) from strategics. We also expect PE-to-PE sales and incremental add-ons to continue, assuming no major upheaval in the debt markets – a big assumption in the current environment.

We also expect cross-border M&A activity to continue unabated at high levels of volume in 2016 as deal makers continue to take advantage of, among other things, tax optimization and efficiency, fluctuations in currency prices (particularly in China) and pricing arbitrage from one country to another.