Perkins Coie LLP
10/13/2021 | News release | Archived content
Partner Gina LaMonica Quoted in Anti-Corruption Report—Advertising Giant WPP’s Aggressive Growth Strategy Leads to SEC Settlement
Partner Gina LaMonica was quoted in the Anti-Corruption Report* article, "Advertising Giant WPP's Aggressive Growth Strategy Leads to SEC Settlement," which highlights the importance of incorporating due diligence into an aggressive growth strategy and not ignoring red flags at subsidiaries post-acquisition.
While the lack of any compliance department may be the most shocking element of the Order, "that's not going to be a lesson learned for most companies of this size and sophistication," argued Gina LaMonica, a partner at Perkins Coie. Rather, the most notable compliance deficiency on WPP's part is the lack of both pre- and post-acquisition due diligence on the FIC entities.
"Diligence in the M&A space must be ongoing and iterative," LaMonica warned. "Regulators are not only going to focus on what the acquiror did to identify red flags during the pre-deal diligence period (which is important), but they are also going to scrutinize what took place in terms of ongoing diligence, integration of the target company and remediation of compliance concerns following the acquisition," she said. "The WPP settlement is a reminder that due diligence and integration efforts must keep pace with a company's acquisition strategy."
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