Intralinks Streamlines NDA Process for Moelis & Company, Delivering Significant Cost and Time Savings

Situation

Moelis & Company is a renowned global investment bank specializing in M&A and strategic advisory, capital markets and private funds. They serve a diverse clientele, including corporations, governments and financial sponsors, across all major industry sectors.

The Moelis Business Services team based in New York was actively engaged in facilitating the sale of their client, a leading provider of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) service and installation across Texas, the Southeast and Midwest U.S., to a financial sponsor. As the team was getting ready to engage a large group of approximately 70 potential buyers, they faced the daunting task of managing a rather complex NDA process involving several (up to 70) drafts, rounds of negotiations, follow-ups, approvals and signatures — a process demanding significant time and effort. 

The Moelis analysts usually outsource the NDA legwork to a third party when dealing with a large potential buyer pool. However, on a recent deal, the team encountered obstacles with their usual provider. They received limited support — only one lawyer was assigned for the project. This hindered their capacity to address NDAs quickly and get prompt responses, especially since the deal team, outsourced lawyer, buyers and other stakeholders were all based in different time zones.

“Intralinks continues to innovate to help teams like ours improve our deal process, work faster and more efficiently. Their NDA Services offering proved invaluable to us for a recent deal — we essentially had access to a global network of legal professionals who could work around-the-clock and turn around the 70+ NDAs we needed very quickly. Our NDA contact at Intralinks coordinated the whole process for us, provided daily updates and was extremely responsive.” 
– Joe H., Analyst, Moelis & Company

Solution

The Moelis team was already set to use an Intralinks virtual data room (VDR) for this deal. When their Intralinks account rep reminded them of the comprehensive Intralinks Deal Services offerings — which encompass not only NDAs but also document redactions, translations, data room setup, Q&A coordination and additional support — the Moelis team was delighted to discover that Intralinks Deal Services aligned seamlessly with their needs.

The Moelis analysts informed their client that Intralinks’ NDA service was competitively priced compared to other NDA providers. Additionally, the Intralinks team has a global network of expert legal professionals with the flexibility to work around-the-clock, ensuring there are no issues with turnaround times or meeting deadlines. To ensure a streamlined and organized workflow, Intralinks assigns a dedicated project manager to oversee the entire process, providing daily updates and promptly responding to inquiries.

Benefits

Outsourcing the NDA work to Intralinks proved highly beneficial for the Moelis team and their client.

• Cost savings: Intralinks’ services offered greater cost-efficiency compared to spending hundreds of dollars per hour on a lawyer for legal services. For example, Intralinks is up to 80 percent more cost-effective than hiring a lawyer at USD 500 per hour — and compared to Moelis’ usual NDA provider, Intralinks provided a 20 percent cost savings.
• Time and resource savings: Moelis analysts say they reclaimed approximately 30 to 40 hours per deal to focus on higher-level work, rather than spending time on drafting, negotiating NDAs and chasing signatures.
• Risk (and stress) management: With Intralinks laser-focused on the NDA process, the Moelis team can rest assured they’ll never miss an NDA email from a potential buyer, eliminating the risk of miscommunication or loss of interest in the deal.
• Confidentiality and convenience: All documents, deal terms and proprietary business information were protected on the Intralinks platform — the most secure, market-leading VDR for banking and capital markets. Centralizing files and coordinating the process via Intralinks VDRPro™ allowed for a quick and seamless transition to the marketing and due diligence portion of the deal.
• Faster deal closing: Time saved by the Moelis team plus speedier coordination with potential buyers meant quicker decision-making by the most interested buyers and a smoother transaction.

Conclusion

Once all NDAs were signed and executed, Intralinks continued to support the Moelis team with the data room for their client’s sale. 

Highlights

• Completed over 70 NDAs 
• Achieved an 80 percent cost savings compared to an in-house or client lawyer
• Provided 20 percent cost savings compared to another NDA provider
• Saved 30–40 hours of analysts’ time  

This experience proved to the Moelis team that Intralinks is a critical deal partner — not only for due diligence data rooms but also for the value-added managed services provided throughout the entire deal lifecycle.