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. Comb through the prior add-ons of recently acquired companies
Premise: Companies that have recently acquired may consider selling non-core assets of the target business.
Buyer Type: Generalist PE investor
How to do this search on Mergr
Step 1
Navigate to the In Play page.
Step 2
View the results.
The table on the In Play page (see full In Play explanation guide here) lists all recently acquired companies that have had prior acquisitions.
In the example below, Salesforce acquired target Informatica. This info is shown in the first two columns. The third column on the right shows all Informatica's add-ons.
Additional research would be needed to determine if any of prior add-ons are still or worth inquiring about, however it's possible that prior to close, certain business units may not be of interest to the new owner.
5. Comb through the prior add-ons of PE backed companies at a particular PE firm
Premise: As the new owner, PE firms may re-evaluate portfolio company assets and consider selling prior add-ons.
Buyer Type: Generalist PE investor
How to do this search on Mergr
In the example below, by entering 'Vista Equity' in the 'Acquirers' field - we can isolate Vista's portfolio companies that have add-on acquisitions prior to Vista's ownership.
6. Comb through the prior add-ons for a specific company
Premise: Companies that have acquired a business may consider selling non-core assets of the acquired business. Focus your search on large companies with a history of acquiring.
Buyer Type: Generalist PE investor
Similar to Number 5 above, you can look up a specific company (in the example below, we use IBM) - and from there analyze prior add-ons for relevance with the new parent company. Contact the new parent to inquire on present day fit or need.
7. Comb through the prior add-ons of recently acquired companies for specific assets
Premise: Search add-ons for specific companies
Buyer Type: Strategic Buyer
In the simplified example below, we identify add-ons where 'sheet metal' is listed in the business description.
If you're a strategic buyer, you can focus your searches on add-ons that might match your industry or sector and proactively reach out to the current parent.
Summary
Proprietary deal flow requires constant outreach and creativity, however with the above strategies, it's possible to pro-actively identify opportunities with the Mergr platform.