Case Study
FTI Technology Supports Extensive Information Request in European Transportation Industry Merger
When two large transportation companies were seeking merger approval from the European Commission, competition authorities issued a rigorous request for information (RFI), requiring the organisations to conduct a significant document discovery and review exercise in only 10 days. FTI Technology was engaged to help the client and counsel identify, collect, analyse, review and produce relevant documents as quickly as possible to support timely resolution of the regulatory review.
Situation
The documents in scope for the RFI included large volumes of electronic data from a diverse set of data sources including structured and unstructured databases and systems. The team had to coordinate efforts across multiple, cross-functional groups to ensure a timely and comprehensive response to the regulatory authorities, all within a tight deadline.
Documents were preserved and searched across email systems, OneDrive files, various Microsoft 365 applications and other sources, resulting in processing of 2.5TB of data. Several data collection, processing and search exercises were conducted concurrently in the e-discovery platform as well as within the client’s internal Microsoft environment for completeness and to uphold proper handling of sensitive information.
Our Role
FTI Technology has deep expertise in delivering fast-paced, complex document discovery, review, and production during merger clearance proceedings and has supported dozens of merger clearance investigations globally. During this RFI response, the team provided the following:
- Development of effective search strategies to accommodate complex search terms and ensure accuracy in retrieval of relevant information from vast datasets.
- Protections for legal and regulatory compliance throughout discovery and production processes, ensuring privacy, data protection, and legal requirements were fulfilled across every phase of the matter.
- Implementation of robust security measures to protect sensitive information and safeguard the document set against unauthorized access and data breaches.
- Creation of consistent folder structures for organizing documents and metadata. This included accurate and comprehensive metadata tagging and generation of load files that adhered to industry standards for data transfer.
- Technology integration for document management, search, and retrieval, ensuring interoperability between numerous software solutions used throughout the process.
- Quality control measures to validate the accuracy of produced documents and to address any discrepancies or errors found in the document set.
- Seamless collaboration and communication among cross-functional teams and stakeholders, ensuring efficient and effective resolution of issues and new needs as they arose.
Our Impact
FTI Technology defensibly reduced 2.5TB to a production set of 225,000 documents (250GB) in only 10 days, enabling client and counsel to proceed with the transaction in a timely manner.
The team’s expertise in handling large data volumes, complex data sources and the technical and procedural requirements of merger clearance investigations in Europe, the U.S. and Canada provided a highly scalable foundation of systems and workflows that helped client and counsel complete the matter.