Due Diligence: The Middle East is filled with business opportunities but riddled with potential pitfalls

While there has always been a need to conduct pre-transaction due diligence, particularly in high risk markets, today's risks and the regulatory and enforcement environment that accompany them have made the stakes higher than ever. Changes in the application of pre-existing laws and programs, i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMergers and Acquisitions Vol. 47; no. 12; p. 42
Main Author Peck, Nicholas
Format Trade Publication Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Wilton Middle Market Information LLC 01.12.2012
Subjects
Acquisitions & mergers
Charities
Criminal investigations
Due diligence
Foreign subsidiaries
Funding
Reputation management
Sanctions
September 11 terrorist attacks-2001
Target company
Terrorism
Middle East
United States > US
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Summary:While there has always been a need to conduct pre-transaction due diligence, particularly in high risk markets, today's risks and the regulatory and enforcement environment that accompany them have made the stakes higher than ever. Changes in the application of pre-existing laws and programs, including more aggressive enforcement of the FCPA and increased use Office of Foreign Assets Control, are specially designated nationals programs. These risks are not confined to a particular country or region but it is the Middle East that is identified, whether fairly or not, as the region that is most vulnerable to these problems. As a result, fact-finding is only the beginning of the process as it is often the analysis and interpretation of those facts that is key when evaluating your risks. This means that it is essential to understand if your acquisition target has links to companies that have conducted business with Iran and if so, whether these links are through majority-controlled subsidiaries or through a relatively minor interest.
ISSN:0026-0010