Like many of those involved in the M&A market, I started the new decade thinking that things could only get better after recent economic challenges, and it appears that there are grounds for optimism.

With global M&A deal activity slipping down to 22% from 2008 levels (according to Dealogic) and some suggesting that we may have seen the bottom of the M&A market in 2009, I think it's safe to say that we’ll all be glad to say goodbye to 2009. And what better way to say farewell and to round the year off than with our Q4 Deal Flow Indicator results.

History has shown us that just one breach will sink a ship—whether it is a galleon in the Spanish Armada or the basketball “crew” Micheal Ray Richardson famously referred to in this post’s title. The Galleon scandal demonstrates the damage and even fatal blow an employee can inflict on a company with the firm’s confidential information. Galleon‘s alleged insider trading violations stem from an Intel employee faxing confidential sales and pricing information to the fund. In the two weeks since the story broke, Galleon has liquidated its $3.7B fund and Intel has hired a law firm to launch an internal investigation.

Virtually every fund has a binder that outlines the fund’s insider trading policies and procedures, However, a binder isn’t going to prevent information leaks—like an Intel employee faxing confidential data to Galleon. To protect confidential information, investors and livelihood, fund managers must implement security measures that:

The global economic crisis is nothing new today, nor is the corresponding increase in businesses fighting for their very existence. For instance, when I searched Google News for articles last Friday referencing "bankruptcy" or "restructuring" In their headlines there were 400+ unique results.