M&A activity in the A&D industry is critically important, constant, and global in scope. Notable mergers and acquisitions by and between major global A&D companies include Huntington Ingalls Industries - Technical Solutions Division and Alion Science and Technologies (2021), Raytheon and United Technologies (2020), BAE Systems and Collins Aerospace (2020), L3 Technologies and Harris (2018), General Dynamics and CSRA (2018), Northrop Grumman and Orbital ATK (2017), and Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky (2015). There have also been numerous smaller mergers and acquisitions by large global defense prime contractors and by small and mid-size A&D companies.

The prospect of success for such M&A transactions is greatly enhanced by effective pre-acquisition due diligence to learn as much as possible about the target company’s business and to identify and address potential problem areas and "red flags" before the transaction is consummated. Given the frequent limitations and time constraints on pre-acquisition due diligence, however, it is extremely important to be able to conduct effective post-acquisition due diligence. This can enable the acquiring company to identify and address corruption-related compliance issues and concerns and to successfully integrate the target company into the acquiring company's anti-corruption compliance program. It also can enable the acquiring company to discover and address past or ongoing corruption-related issues and prevent them going forward.

Our program will feature a practical discussion from an in-house counsel and forensic accounting perspective on how to conduct effective pre- and post-acquisition due diligence and timely integration and how to detect and address issues arising under the U.S. FCPA and foreign anti-corruption laws during a pandemic.

Our panelists will include:

• Kirk Foster, Director of Compliance and Privacy, at HII Technical Solutions, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries

• Brooke Horiuchi, Corporate Counsel - Global Compliance Program at Northrop Grumman

• Bryan Moser, Partner, Forensic Advisory Services at Grant Thornton

• Jim Needham, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Global Ethics and Compliance at Raytheon Technologies

Howard Weissman of our Washington, D.C. office will moderate the discussion.