M&A target lists

Name: M&A target lists
Creator: TestPattern Community
License: https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT

Identifies documents containing references to m&a target lists in Australian contexts. This information type is classified as personally identifiable information under applicable data protection regulations.

Type: regex
Engine: boost_regex
Confidence: medium
Confidence justification: category-aware structural regex with anchor and context constraints replaces phrase-only detection.
Detection quality: Topic verified
Jurisdictions: global
Regulations: Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld), NDB Scheme (Cth), Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), GDPR
Frameworks: ISO 27001, ISO 27701
Data categories: pii
Scope: wide
Risk rating: 8
Platform compatibility: Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Degraded, Netskope: Unsupported

Pattern

(?is)\b(?:m&a\s+target\s+lists|acquisition\s+target|merger\s+target|target\s+company|deal\s+pipeline|due\s+diligence|valuation\s+analysis|strategic\s+acquisition|takeover\s+candidate|indicative\s+offer|enterprise\s+value|synergy\s+assessment)\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

m&a target lists, target, lists, mergers, acquisitions, strategy

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

m&a target lists — Primary topic phrase match
acquisition target — Case-insensitive topic phrase match
merger target — Alternative topic phrase match
target company — Additional topic phrase match
M&a target lists To: Executive Committee From: Chief Financial Officer Date: 14 August 2026 Subject: M&a target lists - FY27 review — Populated document header reaching the 75/85 structure gate

Should not match

unrelated generic text without domain phrases — No relevant topic phrases present
placeholder value 12345 — Random text should not match topic-specific regex
merger fundraising — Generic word pair from old broad template should not match
M&a target lists: To: From: Date: Subject: — Empty form: the heading and field labels without values must not corroborate themselves (discovery only)
Policy guidance: this procedure explains how records about m&a target lists are handled, who may access them and how long they are kept. It contains no records about any person or system. — Policy guidance naming the topic without any record (discovery only)

Known false positives

Common words and phrases related to m&a target lists appearing in policy documents, training materials, HR templates, or compliance guidelines without actual personal data. Mitigation: Require corroborative evidence keywords within the proximity window to confirm sensitive data context rather than general discussion.
In Australian English, similar terminology used in formal or administrative contexts (education, professional documentation) that does not constitute sensitive data collection. Mitigation: Layer with additional contextual signals such as structured identifiers, form fields, or database column headers to distinguish sensitive records from general references.
High-frequency pattern matches in large document corpora due to broad regex anchors. Expected match rate is significantly higher than specific identifier patterns. Mitigation: Tune confidence thresholds for bulk scanning. Consider using this pattern primarily as a pre-filter with secondary validation.