When building a list of private equity firms on Mergr, it's important to understand how the private equity search interface is organized.
Note: To view all private equity search options, be sure to expand the search interface by selecting 'More Options' at the bottom of the search menu.
As shown below, there are four ways to think about building a list of private equity firms.
The four categories include (1) Private Equity Criteria, (2) Firm Investment Criteria, (3) Firm Investment Activity, and (4) Firm Portfolios.
What does each category mean or cover?
Section 1 - Private Equity Criteria
The Private Equity Criteria section is designed to help you search private equity firms based on top level firm characteristics such as size or location.
Examples include,
What type of investor the firm is. For example, select 'Mezzanine' within Firm Type to identify private equity firms that also do mezz investing.
Roughly how big. Select 'Mega' if you want the largest group of firms in the database.
Is industry focused. Select 'Specialist' if you want firms that specialize in certain sectors.
Has money or not. Select 'Funded' if you want firms that have committed capital.
And where the firm is based or has offices. Enter 'Dallas' in the 'City' field to identify private equity firms based in Dallas. If you want firms that are based in Dallas or have an office in Dallas, select the 'Includes Secondary Offices' checkbox.
Section 2 - Firm Investment Criteria
The Firm Investment Criteria section allows you to search private equity firms based on their stated investment interests.
This includes focusing on,
Sectors of interest
Geographic preferences
Targeted transaction types
Target company and transaction sizes
Important Note: Section 3 and 4 allow you to focus on actual investment activity.
In general, a Firm's stated investment interests vastly out covers their actual activity. To help drill down on private equity firms that have invested in certain sectors or geographies, take advantage of section 3 and/or 4.
Section 3 - Firm Investment Activity
The third section allows you search private equity firms based on investment activity, including
Whether a firm has recently bought (or sold)
Whether a firm invests with others
Deal size
Deal types
Section 4 - Firm Portfolios
The final section on the private equity search interface allows you to search private equity firms based on the underlying businesses that a firm has invested in. Options cover,
Sectors
Geographies
Descriptions
Each search section operates independently of each other, however you can easily mix and match making for an endless variety of search combinations.
If you would like to better understand each of the private equity search options, check out our private equity search guide.