Analysis · Q3 2026
Longer pieces on the things a league table cannot hold: what UK diligence actually asks for, how public sector procurement works, where the regulatory lines fall after Brexit, and what the market looks like against real transaction data.
The IDTA and the UK Addendum are the mechanisms UK GDPR provides for transferring personal data to countries without adequacy recognition. Here is what each one does, when to use it, and what a transfer risk assessment requires before the data room opens.
UK GDPR imposes no residency requirement, but restricted transfers to countries without adequacy recognition need a legal mechanism. Here is what that means for deal teams choosing a data room, from EU adequacy to the IDTA and UK Addendum.
A practical checklist for the documents and data room configuration a UK deal team needs for formal diligence, with the statutory items unique to English and Scots law that generic checklists miss.
Google Drive, Dropbox and Notion are already in the building, which makes them tempting data room substitutes. Here is an honest assessment of where each one holds up for UK M&A and fundraising, and where it does not.
SharePoint is familiar and free, but it lacks the audit trail, NDA gate and permission controls that UK M&A deals require. Here is where it breaks and what to use instead.
DocSend works well for pitch decks and investor updates, but breaks on formal UK fundraising and M&A: no NDA gate, limited audit trail, US hosting and no Q and A. Here are the alternatives, and how to choose between DocSend and a purpose-built data room.
A data room index organises what you disclose and in what order. Here is the standard folder structure for a UK M&A deal, the UK-specific documents that change it, and how to control access by buyer phase.
A data room for a UK M&A process or fundraise should contain the documents a buyer's advisers will actually request, organised so that nothing is found missing during diligence. Here is the complete list, by workstream.
Most UK buyers pay EUR 59 to EUR 299 per month for a mid-tier data room, and fewer than half of providers will tell you the price before a sales call. Every confirmed figure for 2026, the pricing models behind them, and what to watch out for.
Which data room companies have a real UK presence, and which are routing British buyers through an affiliate programme? A Companies House-verified directory of providers selling into the UK in 2026.
The document set a UK buyer's advisers will actually ask for, organised into the eleven workstreams diligence is usually run in, with the Companies House and employment law items that catch British sellers out.
Only a handful of data room suppliers are on G-Cloud 14, which for a public body is the difference between a direct award and a full procurement. What the framework covers, what PPN 014 requires, and who is actually listed.
Eighteen providers sell data rooms into the UK and half will not publish a price. An analysis of the market against ONS transaction data, and why so little of the supply matches the shape of British deal flow.