There are no multiple listing services for mergers and acquisition offers because these deals are shrouded in secrecy and not made public until finalized and approved. At best information in static snapshot is available online showcasing the strengths and opportunities of a concern. Evidently such input is far from adequate for a prospective buyer and can at best provide the starting point for discussions and nothing more. Of course, there is scope to improve the due diligence process significantly by improved access to organized ‘data rooms’ through networked computers.
There is no organized marketplace or meeting point of the intending buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions due to the obsession of the participants with privacy and confidentiality. In case where a deal is untimely made public without proper checks and balances, there might be negative repercussions of the employees, bankers, customers, vendors and other stakeholders, which may be difficult to contain. Naturally, there is no public platform with institutional infrastructure to function as a facilitator or catalyst for merger and acquisition deals.
There are professional middlemen, who are popularly known as investment bankers, intermediaries or brokers to facilitate M&A transactions. In client support they attempt to create a one-time market for a one-time deal. Most of these intermediaries do not grow beyond one or two employees and do not have a life span more than 12 to 18 months.
For closely held companies whose shares are not publicly traded or listed on the stock exchange, it is difficult to find buyers offering good price. Locating qualified and interested buyers for multimillion dollar corporations is also a difficult proposition.
