併購實地查核理論與分析--對台灣公司實地查核之分析與建議

Abstract

企業併購乃公司外部成長途徑之一，亦為公司策略佈署之一環。然企業併購能否為股東創造價值或達成企業成長策略預期效益，端賴週全之規畫、審慎之評估與有效之執行。而併購實地查核即為規畫、評估與執行之重要工具之一。企業併購實地查核之幅度可廣可狹，端視交易型態、規模、時間、地域、目的等因素綜合考量。而自實地查核過程中取得之資訊容有不確定或未知之部分，有賴企業領導人與經理人專業之判斷與評估，於已知及未知之資訊中作出決定。如能妥善有效執行實地查核之工作，應可避免或減少應用信號偵測理論導出，對股東價值或公司利益有所減損之結果。本文藉三個併購案，說明不完善之實地查核，導致企業無法達成預期併購效益，並以此為借鏡。 一般廣度之實地查核包括商業、財務、法律、營運、資訊、智財、勞工、環保、租稅、保險等細項查核工作。本文僅就商業策略面、財務面及法律面等作較深入之分析與探討，並強調對台灣企業作實地查核時與西方國家之差異性，期許對進行涉及台灣企業之併購交易實地查核有所助益。依據本文之論述，對台灣企業進行實地查核，與對西方國家之企業進行實地查核有些許根本上之不同，併購方於事前應有所了解，於進行實地查核時應有所注意，方能收事半功倍之效。主要差異點包括台灣企業較保守的心態、面子問題、較不透明之資訊、較不直接的溝通方式、較缺乏的管理階層報告、較依賴成文法的法律體系、以及不同的會計準則等。

Corporate mergers and acquisitions are means for external growth of the company and are part of a company’s corporate strategies. To enhance or create shareholders’ value, or to achieve expected goal of corporate growth strategy through mergers and/or acquisitions, it is imperative to plan thoroughly, review diligently and execute effectively. Due diligence exercise is one of the vital mechanisms of the plan, review and execution. The scope of the due diligence could be broad-based or narrow-based, depending on the type of business transaction, the scale of the deal, the constraint of time, the location of the review task and the purpose thereof. The information obtained through due diligence review might be uncertain or unknown, which would be subject to corporate leaders and officers to make sound business judgments in the mist of known and unknown information. Through effective due diligence, the potential damage to shareholders’ value or corporate interest could be prevented or mitigated, as suggested by the signal detection theory. The three cases discussed in this paper, namely, the acquisition of Snapple by Quaker Oats, Mattel’s acquisition of the Learning Company, and VeriSign’s purchase of Jamba, suggest that ineffective due diligence could destroy the benefits and values which the original merger or acquisition intended to achieve. In a broad-based due diligence, the areas of review would include commercial, financial, legal, operational, information technology, intellectual property, labor and human recourses, environmental, tax and insurance, etc. For the purpose of this paper, the focuses are in the areas of commercial strategy, financial aspect and legal compliance, with emphasis on difference in conducting due diligence in Taiwan when comparing with western countries, which could of help to due diligence activities conducted in connection with enterprises in Taiwan in the context of mergers and acquisitions. According to this paper, there exist fundamental differences between conducting due diligence on Taiwanese enterprises and on western enterprises. The acquirer is advised to be aware of these differences before and during the due diligence review. These major differences include conservative attitude, less transparency, indirect communication, importance of face, lack of management report, codified legal system and difference in generally accepted accounting principles.