Panasonic Uses Intralinks VDR to Stream Videos of M&A Projects

The Task

Panasonic will become a holding company in 2022, so it has been proactively reviewing and reorganizing its business. In their new medium-term strategy created in 2019, Panasonic is accelerating its initiatives aimed at profit growth and improving profitability with its “Business Portfolio Reform” acting as one of its pillars of these goals. Recently, in addition to establishing joint ventures with Toyota Motor Corporation—in-vehicle battery and housing development businesses—Panasonic has also sold off video surveillance, semiconductor and lighting device businesses in Europe.

With due diligence of similar M&A projects currently underway, there is an increased need for a platform to share confidential information between potential buyers and advisers; a new way of handling this was created during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was difficult to bring people on-site during the COVID-19 pandemic, so our company decided to create videos of things like our factory facilities and lines, and make them available to other parties. However, we had to confront the problem of how we would share the videos.” (Manager)

Solution

In order to solve this problem, Panasonic initially looked into recording the video data in DVDs, sending those to interested parties, and then having them sent back afterward. However, the company decided not to use this method, considering, for example, that it would take a lot of time and labor to send videos of overseas factories to interested parties in various locations; and there was also the risk that retrieving the DVDs could be tricky. Panasonic decided to search again for a platform on which they could share a large volume of data, including videos.

After careful consideration, Panasonic decided to adopt an Intralinks Virtual Data Room (VDR).

“The Intralinks VDR platform has the best track record in the industry, and we have used it at our company in the past. This platform allows you to share a large volume of video data at a low cost, and we also liked how it allows you to set viewing restrictions.” (Manager)

Benefits to Adopting the Platform

By adopting an Intralinks VDR, Panasonic was able to share information—even video data—securely and at a low cost.

“We have shared videos using the Intralinks VDR in several M&A projects in the past; we are able to offer factory inspections without delay with it and we received superb reviews from potential buyers. The Intralinks VDR eliminates time lag when sharing data and reduces the cost of moving and sending physical items. We are also able to make videos available with the peace of mind that any worse-case scenarios—like videos leaking—are covered by allowing us to set our own viewing restrictions.” (Manager)

Future Developments

Panasonic has used Intralinks VDRs primarily for M&A projects so far, but is looking to expand its usage across a variety of projects in the future.

“Panasonic is in the midst of restructuring its group business for its transition to a holding company, scheduled for April 2022. Even this sort of in-house business restructuring project requires outside advisers and sharing information, so we believe it’s possible in the future there will be opportunities to utilize the platform.” (Manager)

Customer Review

“Operating the Intralinks VDR is easy and intuitive; those outside of the M&A project department can put it to use right away, as well.” (Manager)