Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy. Just as Leo Tolstoy’s famous opening line from Anna Karenina alludes to successful mergers and acquisitions are alike, while those that fail are all unsuccessful in their own way.
The importance of due diligence can never be emphasized enough, partly because so many firms are evidently keen to get it over with as soon as possible. One of the major problems that arises during the process is that the acquirer is depending on the target company to provide information that isn’t always complimentary to their management. This creates obvious agency problems.