What it does
Ownership Graph plots a single company's M&A topology. Search any company in Mergr and you get four lenses on its lifecycle: every ownership era it has lived through, the maturity stage it's in under its current sponsor, the likelihood and shape of its next exit, and the advisor relationships built up across the eras.
It's the only tool in the suite that's centered on one company's time-line rather than a firm's portfolio or a market-wide view. Each tab is built for a different stakeholder — bankers pitching, sponsors diligencing, advisors mapping their relationship surface, BD teams qualifying outreach.
When to use it
Pre-pitch diligence on a target. Get the full ownership history before writing a CIM or sending a teaser — know who owned the company before, what they paid, and how long they held.
Map the advisor relationship surface. The Advisors tab shows which bankers and law firms have done what, era by era — useful both for pitching ("we did three deals during your Vista era") and for understanding incumbent relationships.
Project exit probability for sell-side origination. Maturity + Exit Signals together give a defensible read on whether a company is approaching its exit window.
Spot serial acquirers. A company with 50+ add-ons under one sponsor is a different animal than a company with two —the Exit Signals tab handles this distinction explicitly.
Where to access it
How to use it
1. Search a company
Type a company name into the search box. Pick a match from the autocomplete. The graph loads — usually under a second — and lands on the Deal Topology tab by default.
2. Load the company and toggle between the four tabs
Deal Topology — chronological ownership eras and the transitions between them. Select to view acquisitions/divestitures per ownership period.
Maturity — current ownership stage and signals (PE-specific scoring for PE-owned companies; integration status for strategic-owned; statement view for public or independent).
Exit Signals — projected exit shape and likelihood under the current owner.
Advisor Relationships — bankers and law firms by era, with a cross-era aggregate at the bottom.
FAQ
Q: What defines an "era"?
A period of continuous ownership under a single owner (or co-owner set). Eras are derived from the company's transaction history in `cache_acquisitions`; a new era begins whenever an acquisition or exit transitions ownership.
Q: How is "current" ownership determined?
The era whose end date is null or open — i.e., no subsequent transition has been recorded. There's exactly one current era per company (or none, if no current ownership is on file).
Q: How is the PE maturity score calculated?
Blend of hold years (under the current sponsor) and add-on count. Both signals push toward "Exit Ready"; very recent acquisitions push toward "Early." The score is meant as a directional indicator, not a precise probability — read the signals listed below the score for the underlying inputs.
Q: Why doesn't Maturity show a score for public or independent companies?
The "stage" framing is PE-specific. Public and independent companies don't have a fund-cycle clock; the Maturity tab gives a statement view instead, with a note on what kind of transition (if any) would apply.
Q: How does Ownership Graph differ from Dossier?
Dossier is an LLM-narrated profile of a company or firm — prose with citations. Ownership Graph is a structured topology view of a single company across time — eras, transitions, maturity, advisors. Use Dossier for the story; use Ownership Graph for the structure.