The Company Search interface is set-up to filter businesses that have been added to Mergr. If you're looking to build lists of companies, this is the search interface to use.
Special Note: We go out of our way to only add companies that have been involved in M&A - either as the Buyer, Seller, and/or as the Target. If a company has not been involved in M&A, we try and do not add. This limits the total number of companies in Mergr, however as an M&A-focused database, building lists of companies based on M&A is simpler with less 'noise'.
Where to Access
You can quickly access the Company Search interface from the Mergr Dashboard, as well as the Menu tray.
Company Search
The Company Search interface is designed to filter businesses using a variety of Company, Ownership, and M&A Activity criteria.
Tip: To view all search options (as shown below), be sure to expand the default search menu by selecting 'More Options'.
Once you've built a list, you can Sort the results, Save the search, or Export via CSV.
There are 3 categories of criteria on Mergr to help users filter and search companies. These include,
Company-Specific Criteria (blue figures below, 1 - 8) - Search and filter companies based on company-specific criteria (such as sector and location).
Company Ownership Criteria (orange figure below, 9) - Search companies based on what type of ownership it falls under.
Company M&A Activity Criteria (green figures below, 10 -11) - Search companies based on their buy and/or sell-side M&A activity.
Company Criteria
1. Keyword - Names/Tickers
If you know the company you're interested in - directly enter the name of the company here. If the company is public, you can search via ticker symbols as well. (Eg. 'Ping Identity', 'MSFT')
2. Keyword - Descriptions
To isolate or identify specific types of companies - try the Keyword - Descriptions field.
Tip: We use a list of 61 different sectors to categorize companies based on industry. If you're looking to identify highly specific companies, it's better to leave the sector category blank and try to search companies using the 'Keyword - Descriptions' field only. For example, 'laboratory equipment' or 'SS7'.
3. Sector
For general filtering by industry - select from the Sector dropdown. Every company is assigned to one of 61 sectors. Select more than one sector at a time to expand your search to multiple industries.
4. Revenue
Use the Revenue dropdown to filter companies by revenue. We provide 5 different revenue ranges for quick filtering. For companies where revenue has been added in a non-USD currency, we convert the currency to USD for standardized searching.
Search Tip: The majority of companies in the Mergr database are private and do not disclose revenue - so most companies (> 80%) will not have any current or historical revenue figures added to the Mergr database. If you use this filter, you will automatically filter out companies where no revenue is available.
This search field is most useful when filtering Public companies where revenue figures have been added. Also, we do not guess revenue figures - however if we find an old revenue number referenced or published, we will add to a company's profile.
5. State / Province
Look-up and build lists of companies by US State or Canadian Province. You can select multiple options to expand your search.
6. Country
Look-up and build lists of companies by country. You can select multiple options to expand your search.
7. City
Look-up and build lists by the primary city we have listed for a company's profile.
Search Tip: You can expand the list of cities you wish to search by adding the 'OR' search parameter between cities. For example, to look-up companies in 'San Francisco', 'Oakland', and 'Menlo Park', enter 'San Francisco OR Oakland OR Menlo Park' in the City search field.
8. Company Status
By default - all Companies added to the database are Active, however we tag Companies that no longer exist or have been folded into another organization as Defunct.
Ownership Criteria
9. Ownership Status
All Companies in the Mergr database fall under one of four current ownership categories.
Public - Company is currently publicly-traded.
Private - Company is closely held or venture-backed, and has not yet had a liquidity event. Examples include VC-backed companies such as Stripe or family-owned companies such as Cargill and SC Johnson.
Acquired - Company has been acquired by another Company. Whatsapp would be an example of an acquired company. (acquired by Facebook)
PE Backed (Current) - Company is currently owned by a Private Equity Firm.
Within the PE Backed (Current) search option, you can separately filter by age investment, Firm Owner Size, and/or Firm Owner Country.
You can also look-up companies using a 'former' ownership attribute.
PE Backed (Former) - Company has previous PE owners. Results could return companies that have passed from one PE owner to another, as well as companies that have exited from PE ownership.
M&A Activity Criteria
10. w/ Buy-Side M&A and 11. w/ Sell-Side M&A
Both 10. w/ Buy-Side M&A and 11. w/ Sell-Side are designed to help you filter companies based on underlying M&A activity. For example, if you wish to filter companies that have acquired at least 1 company, simply check the 'w/ Buy-Side M&A' activity box. Alternatively, if you wish to isolate companies that have divested at least one company, select the 'w/ Sell-Side M&A' checkbox. In addition to filtering for companies that have bought or sold, you can add attributes of the targets involved, as well what category of seller or buyer (Corporate vs Private Equity) the targets came from or were transferred to.
Both the w/ Buy-Side M&A and w/ Sell-Side M&A criteria can be combined together or used with other attributes - such as 'Ownership', 'Geography', or 'Sector' to create countless options for filtering companies.
In the example below, we are isolating companies that have acquired a 'Chemicals' company from a 'PE Firm' within the past '2 Years'.
Final Search Note: By only including companies that have Bought, Sold, or Been Bought or Sold, we have already created a highly curated list of companies to search through. Given so, we highly suggest building lists using 1 - 3 attributes and only add more criteria if your list has more records than what you are looking for. If you select too many criteria, your list will narrow quickly.
Company Results
Viewing
The Company Search Results table is designed to quickly show you basic company attributes, such as location, industry, and revenue (if available), but also M&A totals and ownership status.
If a company is public, it will list its associated stock exchange and ticker symbol. If owned by a private equity investor, it will have a 'PE Backed' label and display its current owners. Other ownership labels include 'Acquired' and 'Private'.
The right side of the results table highlights total M&A activity (both buy and sell totals), as well as recent yearly activity.
Select an individual record to view its complete Mergr profile.
Sorting
After doing a company search (and by default when loading the search page), results are sorted by total Acquisition Count - High to Low. Acquisition count is the sum of all buy-side M&A events that a company has (according to the info we have in the Mergr database).
In addition to sorting by acquisition count, other sort options include,
Company Name (A to Z, Z to A)
Sector Name (A to Z)
Divestiture Count
Revenue (High to Low)
Acquisition Count - Year-to-Date
Acquisition Count - Last 5 Years
Exit Count - Year-to-Date
Exit Count - Last 5 Years
Has Acquired, Most Recent First
Has Divested, Most Recent First
Was Acquired, Most Recent First
Saving
For faster recall later - you can save your company searches.
Step 1: Select the 'Save Search' button at the top of the search results table.
Step 2: Enter a name for your search and select 'Save Search'.
Step 3: Saved searches appear on your Dashboard under 'Saved Searches'.
Downloading
You can download your search results by selecting 'Download' at the top of the search results table.
Selecting 'Download' will export the first 250 results of your search via a CSV file. If your search contains more than 250 results, results beyond the first 250 records will not be included. Company fields available for export can be viewed and modified by selecting the down arrow next to the Download button.
Click here to view the list of available fields when exporting companies.
Note: The Download function is disabled during the free trial period and is automatically enabled after the free trial period ends. If you select 'Download' during your trial, you will be prompted to end your trial and upgrade to a paid membership.
Secondary Search Results
The company search results section contains a series of tabs in addition to the primary tab listing company results.
These associated tabs include,
Company M&A
PE Investors
Company Investors
Advisors
These tabs are dynamic and connected to the list of companies in the primary tab.
Company M&A
After building a list of companies, if you wish to view the M&A for these companies, select the 'Company M&A' secondary tab.
PE Investors
After building a list of companies, if you wish to view the private equity owners/investors of/in these companies, select the 'PE Investors' secondary tab.
Company Investors
After building a list of companies, if you wish to view the companies that own the primary list of companies, select the 'Company Investors' secondary tab.
Advisors
After building a list of companies, if you wish to view the aggregate collection of M&A Advisors (legal and financial) who have advised on transactions for the list of Investors, select the 'Advisors' secondary tab.
