We are now plainly amid what HBR Consulting managing director Bobbi Basile calls the e-discovery “consolidation of the market that has been predicted for over a decade.” But as predictable as the trend toward mergers and acquisitions within the e-discovery space was, the deals themselves are starting to draw increasing levels of scrutiny.
Last week’s announcement that OpenText would acquire Guidance Software, just a year after the company’s $163 million purchase of e-discovery software provider Recommind, suggests that the company is interested in playing in the big leagues of e-discovery M&A alongside major serial-acquirers like LDiscovery and Epiq . The latest transaction is valued at around $222 million and is expected to close in the end of this year’s third quarter.
