Why this search matters
Not all M&A is alike. A platform buyout of a private company, a tuck-in add-on at a PE-owned platform, a corporate divestiture of a non-core unit, and a take-private of a public company are mechanically different transactions — different banker workflows, different vendor needs, different sponsor profiles, different exit dynamics.
Filtering by deal situation lets you isolate the specific slice that matches your work:
Sourcing — filter to Add-on Acquisition to track add-on flow; Buyout for new platform deals; Divestiture for corporate-carveout opportunities.
Sell-side advisory BD — filter to Divestiture or Trade Sale to find prospects on the seller side.
Vendor and service-provider targeting — different deal types drive different post-close needs. Carve-outs require separation consultants and IT spin-out specialists; secondary buyouts need a different stack. Filter to the deal type that matches your offering.
Market segmentation — track how specific deal types cluster by sector, geography, or time period.
Note: Mergr categorizes deals using the deal types most common in PE and corporate M&A. Mergr does not track early-stage or venture transactions — if you're looking for Series A/B/C funding rounds or seed deals, you'll need a different source. Click here for complete descriptions on each type of invest and exit deal situation.
Two ways to filter
There are two paths to filter by deal situation. They cover overlapping but distinct cases — pick based on whether you care about the deal mechanics or the counterparty type.
Method 1 - Invest Situation / Exit Situation
Use this when you care about the specific deal mechanic — buyout, add-on, secondary buyout, divestiture, trade sale, IPO, going private, etc.
Step 1
Open the Transaction Search page.
Step 2
Once on the Transaction Search page - locate the Invest and Exit Situation dropdowns in the top 'Transaction Criteria' row.
As implied, the Invest Situation dropdown focuses on and describes the deal situation for the buyer (or investor) in a transaction. The Exit Situation dropdown focuses on the situation for the seller in a transaction.
Step 3
Select the deal situation (or situations) that match what you're looking for.
Select Search.
Method 2 — Filter by Buyer/Seller Type
Use this when you care about the category of buyer or seller — financial (PE) vs. corporate/strategic — without committing to a specific deal mechanic.
Step 1
Expand the Transaction Search menu by selecting More Options.
In the Buyer Criteria or Seller Criteria section, select the buyer or seller type that fits — Private Equity Firm, Company (strategic), or both.
Select Search.
Your search result set will filter for transactions that apply to the category of buyer selected.
This is a faster way to filter when you don't need the specific deal mechanic — for example, "all transactions where the seller was a PE firm" (any exit type) is one click in Method 2 vs. multiple in Method 1.
When to combine both
The most powerful searches combine both methods — e.g., Exit Situation: Divestiture + Seller Type: Public surfaces every public-company carve-out.
Additional filters to try
Add a Sector filter to narrow to your industry — e.g., Add-on Acquisitions in Healthcare.
Add a Country, State, or City filter to narrow geographically.
Add a Year range to focus on a specific window — recent activity vs. lifetime.
Combine Exit Situation = Trade Sale - Strategic + Buyer Type = Company for clean strategic-acquirer outreach lists.
Going further
For one PE firm's full deal mix by type (buy-side and sell-side breakdown across deal situations) — see the firm's M&A Activity tab via How to View a PE Firm's M&A Activity on Mergr.
For one company's complete transaction history with deal-type breakdowns — see Ownership Graph.
For likely buyers of a specific target in a deal type — use Buyer Match.
For active PE-backed platforms generating add-on volume right now — see Roll-Up Tracker.