It's official, 2015 has become a record year for global mergers and acquisitions, with deals totaling more than $4.3 trillion. Yet, research shows that leaks of deals under negotiation are in decline. In fact, in 2014, leaks dropped to a six-year low, according to analysis recently conducted by Intralinks and the Cass Business School at City University London.
Only 6 percent of deals under negotiation experienced leaks in 2014, down from 8.8 percent the prior year, indicating that tougher regulatory enforcement, tighter internal governance and transactional risks are looming over deal makers and shifting the dynamics of leaking confidential information.
Intralinks analyzed nearly 4,500 global transactions over the six-year period from 2009 through 2014, examining significant pre-announcement trading in the shares of a target company in the days leading up to the bid announcement, which is highly indicative of information leakage.