1. Contact Companies that Have Recently Divested
Premise: Companies that have recently sold or divested an asset may have other business units or divisions under strategic review.
Buyer Type: Generalist PE investor
How to do this search on Mergr
Step 1 — Go to the Company Search Page
Step 2 — Re-Sort the table of results to companies that have recently divested.
By default, results on the Company Search page are sorted by Acquisition Count - High to Low.
You can re-sort the default list by a variety of options. In this case, we want to apply the Divested - Most Recent Date First sort.
This will re-order the list of companies to those that have most recently sold.
Note: Add company industry, ownership status, or location criteria to narrow your results further.
2. Stay in touch with Companies that Consistently Sell
Premise: Companies that actively divest and have done so several times may be worth contacting and periodically staying in touch with in anticipation of a future sell-side event.
Buyer Type: Generalist PE investor
How to do this search on Mergr
Step 1 — Go to the Company Search Page.
Step 2 — Select More Options to view all company search options.
Step 3 — Apply sell-side M&A Activity criteria.
With the Company Search menu fully expanded, check the w/ Sell-Side M&A box and change the Count to >= 5.
This search will identify all companies that have sold or divested an asset - at least 5 times. Select Search.
Step 4
If you'd like, you can sort the list by Divestiture Count - High to Low to identify the sellers with the highest number of divestitures first.
Note: Add company industry, ownership status, or location criteria to narrow your search further.
3. Identify Mature PE-Backed Portfolio Companies
Premise: PE firms eventually need to consider an exit for their portfolio companies. Isolate 'old' portfolio company investments.
Buyer Type: Generalist PE investor or Strategic Buyer
How to do this search on Mergr
Step 1 — Go to the Company Search Page
Step 2 — Select More Options to view all company search options.
Step 3 — Locate the Ownership Status block in the left column.
Here, we will select the PE Backed (Current) checkbox and select 6 to 8 Years and > 8 Years in the Investment Age dropdown.
Step 5 — Select Search.
Your result list will contain all PE Backed companies where the PE owner invested more than 6 years prior.
Note: Add company industry or location criteria to narrow your search further.
4. Use Shed to surface carve-out opportunities
Premise: When a PE firm or strategic acquires a platform, they inherit every add-on the platform had previously bought. Some of those inherited businesses may not fit the new owner's thesis and become candidates for divestiture.
Shed surfaces these across the whole market in one view — ranked by how likely the inherited add-ons are to be sold off.
Buyer Type: Generalist PE investor or Strategic buyer
How to do this search on Mergr
Step 1 — Navigate to the Shed page.
Step 2 — Review the default results.
Shed loads pre-populated. Each row shows a recently-acquired platform along with its inherited add-ons. Add-ons are color-coded:
Possible — two or more divest signals stacked (most likely to be sold off)
Watch — one divest signal (worth tracking)
Signals are visible on every add-on
Step 3 — Enter a keyword to narrow on your niche.
The most useful starting point is the Keyword box at the top left. Pair it with the Add-on scope toggle to find inherited add-ons whose descriptions match your niche.
In the example below, entering sheet metal with scope set to Add-on returns 7 platforms across the market whose inherited add-ons mention sheet metal — a focused list of carve-out targets in that niche, each with the reasons it looks divest-able already laid out.
Click any add-on to open its profile and assess fit. Sort by Recent (most-recent acquisitions first) or Score (highest carve-out likelihood first).
Optional ways to narrow further
The remaining filters refine the list when you have a more specific brief — none are required to get useful results:
Acquirer — Firm (PE buyers), Company (strategics), or Both
Platform Sector / Add-on Sector — filter independently; useful when the platform's industry and the add-on's industry are different
Country — filter by geography
Min Add-ons — raise this to focus on platforms with several inherited add-ons (more carve-out optionality)
Acquired Within — widen or narrow the time window (default 24 months)
Summary
Proprietary deal flow requires creativity. With the above strategies, it's possible to pro-actively identify opportunities with the Mergr platform.