How it plays out on a deal
Vendor reports, typically financial, tax and legal, are prepared by advisers hired by the seller and shared with bidders, sometimes with reliance letters for the eventual buyer. The aim is a faster, more orderly auction with fewer surprises late in the process.
In the room, VDD usually means a dedicated report folder released early, sometimes with download disabled until a bidder has signed a reliance or release letter. Rooms with document level click-through terms or staged release handle that cleanly. Rooms that can only gate access at the front door push the seller into workarounds.
What to check in a review or demo
- 1Whether a terms-of-access screen can be attached to one folder, not only to the room login.
- 2Whether a report can stay view-only for some groups and downloadable for others.
- 3How the room records that each bidder accepted the release terms before opening the reports.
Read alongside
- Due diligenceThe checking phase before money changes hands: the acquirer or backer works through the target's accounts, contracts, disputes, systems and staffing, largely by reading what the seller has posted.
- NDA click-throughA screen that shows confidentiality or access terms when a user first enters the room, or a folder, and requires them to accept before going further, with the acceptance logged.
- View-only accessA permission that lets a user read a document in the room's viewer but not download, print or edit it.
- Staged disclosureReleasing information in planned steps, for example a summary set in round one and full contracts in round two, by opening folders to each group at the right moment.