Thanks for the response. My department will exist, but with fewer heads. As far as due diligence, what else could I have done except ask whether a merger or acquisition was on the table with this particular company?
The leader of the group through which I ultimately report A) is the CEO's most trusted confidante; B) owns the relo program; and C) knew of these conversations and my hire/move. The S-4 filing documents several meetings each month for the eight months prior to my hire. So if they may not have been able to disclose they were in talks, the answer to my question during my due diligence period should have been "we cant say" and not "there's a very low likelihood of that happening" and then putting it in terms of "def con" levels to illustrate where they were at the time and where they would need to be to think such a transaction was likely.

