Advisor Match takes a target company — described however you like — and produces ranked lists of the investment banks and law firms most likely to advise on a deal for it.
Two tabs (Banks / Law Firms) run off the same scoring engine, drawing on every advisor's historical deal record in Mergr by sector, deal-size band, geography, side (buy vs. sell), and recent activity.
When to use it
Beauty contest prep. See who's actually closed deals in your sector + size band before sending RFPs.
Sell-side mandate scoping. Rank likely competing banks to anticipate the field.
Buy-side advisor selection. Find the right bank or lawyer with track record on deals like the one you're chasing.
Source the right boutique. Bulge brackets are easy to find. Boutiques with deep sector specialization are not — Advisor Match surfaces them.
Where to access it
How to use it
1. Set the target.
Describe the target — type a sentence (e.g., "Specialty chemicals distributor with $75M revenue, Midwest US") and click Parse. The tool extracts sector, specialty keywords, size band, and geography.
Search a Mergr company — pick a match and the criteria auto-fill from that company's profile.
2. Edit the criteria. Everything is editable; results re-run automatically.
Target Company section:
Sector / Specialty — Specialty terms are the niche keywords (e.g., refrigeration, specialty chemicals) that narrow within a sector. Most important field after Sector.
Size — EV / Revenue / EBITDA — three separate min/max inputs because different industries use different denominators. Fill whichever you have.
Geography — countries or regions where the target operates.
Side — Any (default) / Buy-side / Sell-side. Advisor track records skew by side, so set this whenever you know which side you're pitching.
Advisor Pool section:
HQ Region — narrow to advisors headquartered in specific regions.
Size - narrow to Large, Mid-sized, and Small
If everything looks good, select Find Matches.
3. Read the results. Switch between Banks and Law Firms tabs.
Each row shows the fit score (0–100), the reasons that drove it (e.g., "7 deals in industrial services in the last 5 years", "3 sell-side mandates in $50–100M EV band"), and a link to the advisor's Mergr profile.
Tips
Set Side as soon as you know it. A buy-side and sell-side track record are different things — leaving Side on Any dilutes the score.
Specialty is the differentiator. Bulge brackets cover everything. Specialty keywords are how you find the boutique with five deals in your exact niche.
Bank Size is a strategy filter, not a quality filter. Default to all sizes on; narrow only when you've decided the deal needs a specific tier (e.g., boutiques only for a $40M deal).
Switch tabs to compare side-by-side. A high-affinity bank often pairs with a high-affinity law firm by repeat co-engagement — worth checking both tabs before making the call.
Pair with Ownership Graph. When advising on a specific company, check the company's Advisor Relationships tab in Ownership Graph for incumbents before pitching — Advisor Match shows the competitive field, Ownership Graph shows the incumbent.
FAQ
Q: How is the fit score calculated?
A weighted blend of sector overlap, deal-size band match, geographic alignment, side (buy/sell) track record, and recent-activity recency. Each row's reasons list the specific signals that drove its score.
Q: Why no firm-revenue or stage filter (like Buyer Match has)?
Advisors don't disclose target revenue ranges and don't pre-screen by company lifecycle stage. Filters that aren't backed by data would create false confidence.
Q: What does the Side filter do exactly?
Restricts scoring to that side of the advisor's track record. Buy-side counts only deals where the advisor represented the buyer; Sell-side counts only deals where they represented the seller. Any counts both.