I'm sure there are those that have had different experiences, but I've been party to several M&A due diligence exercises (including >$1B) at a large financial and there is *tremendous* pressure (on both sides) to move quietly (MNPI baby), quickly and not destroy your relationship with the acquired entity in the process. The business wants the sale to close, you're looking for issues that could be leveraged in the deal and/or actual show-stoppers. The interactions are clumsy as they are managed through third party portals that keep the data locked down and in escrow. The sell-side entity still has every right to protect their intellectual property until it's parceled in a contract, so you're not going to get access to shit (unless they are stupid I suppose). It's going to be in an audit-like situation where you are going to ask someone for samples (which obviously can be groomed) or doing screen shares and taking screenshots or similar.
The fact that the acquirer is large is somewhat immaterial, the teams 'under the tent' doing the investigation are going to be relatively small on both sides, including folks from the business trying to close the sale, internal/external counsel and singular SMEs from relevant domains.
The fact that the acquirer is large is somewhat immaterial, the teams 'under the tent' doing the investigation are going to be relatively small on both sides, including folks from the business trying to close the sale, internal/external counsel and singular SMEs from relevant domains.