Every M&A transaction in Mergr is tagged with a deal type that describes the situation from each side of the deal — the Investment side (the buyer) and the Exit side (the seller).

Many deals carry both tags. When a PE firm sells a portfolio company to another PE firm, the buyer's side is a Secondary Buyout and the seller's side is a Secondary Sale. If the acquirer is a strategic instead, the same exit becomes an Add-on Acquisition (buyer side) and a Trade Sale (seller side).

Some deal types are one-sided by definition — a Buyout of a privately held company has no seller-side counterpart in Mergr if the seller wasn't a tracked entity. IPO and Bankruptcy are exit-only because there's no traditional acquirer.

The full glossary follows.

Investment used to support an add-on investment.

Acquisition of one company by another, typically by a PE-backed platform expanding through M&A or a strategic buyer building out a capability.

Majority acquisition of a privately held company. Includes leveraged buyouts (LBO), management buyouts (MBO), and management buy-ins (MBI).

Acquisition of multiple companies in the same industry, typically anchored by a platform company. Also called a build-up, roll-up, or buy-and-build.

Acquisition of a business unit or subsidiary that's being sold off by its parent.

Acquisition of a publicly traded company that delists the company from public markets. Also called a take-private.

Later-stage minority investment where proceeds fund growth or expansion — not a change of control.

Two companies forming a new entity together.

Two companies combining into a single entity.

Restructuring of a company's capital structure — often a dividend recap or shift in debt/equity mix.

Sale of a portfolio company from one PE investor to another.

Acquisition of a troubled company or asset — often involving bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings.

Minority investment in a company.

The company is insolvent and control passes to creditors. Mergr only records bankruptcies for companies already in our database — not the broader universe of insolvencies.

A company sells a division or business subsidiary.

An investor exits a portfolio company through public markets via an initial public offering.

The portfolio company is combined with another company, and the investor exits via the resulting combined entity.

The company's capital structure is restructured; investors exit through the resulting transaction.

Sale of a portfolio company to another private equity investor.

The company permanently ceases operations.

A shareholder exits by selling its stake to other current shareholders.

The company is sold to existing management or key employees.

The portfolio company exits by merging with a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company.

When a company separates a division or subsidiary into a new independent company.

Sale of a minority position in a company.

Sale of a portfolio company to a strategic buyer (i.e., another company, not another investor).

Searching by deal type

You can filter the Transaction Search page by any of the deal types above — useful for building precedent lists, isolating roll-up activity, or finding all exits by a specific firm. The same filters appear on every firm's and company's M&A Activity tab.

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