ISD Library

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Mergers & Acquisitions

INTRODUCTION: this is a guide to Portal databases and web sites that give you access to
mergers and acquisitions information.
NOTE: Recent research published in Online (Nov/Dec 2005)* suggests that the deal coverage
of all products is deficient. To obtain a full list of deals involving a particular company you
should search at least two products from this list i.e. SDC Platinum AND Capital IQ. In all
databases there are problems associated with the indexing of industries, deal value and
acquisition technique.

SECTION A: Portal databases

M&A ACTIVITY
1) Thomson Deals
The database provides an overview of M&A deals over a defined period. The data is
categorised under the following headings

Overview: Announced/completed M&A volume, by month, over last 12 months

Announced target industry and region comparison
Top announced/completed over last 12 months
Top announced/completed advisers
Announced Deals by date, target status, industry, region
Completed Deals by date, target status, industry, region
League tables Announced/completed by target region or regional/country
involvement
Volume Announced/completed by time period, industry, region for year-to-
analysis date, industry or region

2) Acquisitions Monthly
This periodical tables every month of deal data arranged by country and sector. It
also includes surveys on topics like MBOs, acquisition finance, trends in particular
countries, and institutional issues. The periodical is owned by Thomson, so the
quantitative data is similar to that in Thomson Deals.

3) Bloomberg
Bloomberg gives league tables of M&A activity in US and other markets.
type MA and press [GO]
select Option 7 for league tables of M&A activity in US and other markets
select Option 8 for statistics of volume, average premium, payment type,
categorised by region and industry
SCREENING FOR DEALS
Use these databases to find mergers and acquisitions that meet certain criteria; e.g. specific
companies, industries, types of deal, takeover strategies and defence, etc

1) SDC Platinum (Library only)

search by US and non US targets, date, industry, deal value, deal type, deal
status, stock transactions, ratios etc. Offers standard and customised
reports.

2) Thomson Deals
quick search by company name, date; target industry, region or status; deal type,
status and form; adviser and financial criteria. Provides standard
reports
advanced by company name, industry, region, deal information, financials, and
search advisers. Offers standard and customised reports, ranking lists and
league tables

3) Capital IQ
choose Transaction screening page.
select General details about the transaction
enter company, industry, geography, date, financials, etc.
select M&A details.
enter M&A specifics like target security types, consideration offered, deal
conditions and deal attitude.

4) FAME, AMADEUS, OSIRIS

choose Advanced search
select M&A deals
enter status, date, value, multiple (based on EBITDA) and deal type.

5) Bloomberg
type MA and press [GO]
enter region, industry, deal size and deal type

NEWS AND COMMENT ON MERGERS

For news, comment and qualitative analysis of mergers, both specific and trends, use the
following databases

1) Factiva
choose Search builder
enter company name or the industrial sector
enter subject term Acquisitions/Mergers/Takeovers
enter dates, if necessary, to limit the search
enter sources, if required, like RNS (the company news service of the
London Stock Exchange).
 2) Business Source Complete
choose Index
select Company Entity to find the preferred form of name
enter a free text search term like merger*
enter dates, if necessary, to limit the search
enter other companies involves in the transaction to limit the search

3) ProQuest Direct
choose, advanced search
browse for the preferred form of company name
enter a free text term like merger*.
enter dates, if necessary, to limit the search

Alternative search methods

(1) browse for the subject descriptor (Acquisitions and mergers)
enter this in a search box with subject selected
(2) enter 2330 in a search box with Classification code selected

4) FT Intelligence
choose advanced search,
enter merger in the keyword box
enter company name in the company field

5) Economist
choose advanced search,
enter company name
enter dates to limit search

EVENT STUDIES
The following database helps to relate company events with financial changes.

.
1. Capital IQ
choose Company intelligence
enter company name to select the equity required
select Charting: annotated stock chart
enter dates to set a time period
expand Series list
click Edit series list
uncheck Key developments
check Transactions
click Add or Generate chart. There are options to export the graphs and
timeline date to Excel
DATA ON DEAD OR DEFUNCT COMPANIES
The following databases contain data on companies that have merged, or been acquired in
such a way as they no longer trade under the original name.

1) FAME, AMADEUS, OSIRIS

choose Advanced search
choose Active/Inactive in left hand menu
select Inactive companies
.

2) Perfect Filings
The database has all documents filed with UK Companies House since the 1980’s.
Base date varies with the company
enter Company name
select Issue date
enter Time period

3) Datastream (Library only)

Company accounts data on Advance and AFO goes back to 1980. DS also retains
share price data up to point where shares ceased to be traded.
choose DS Navigator
select Equities
select Status field
click Dead

OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE
The following databases show lists of subsidiary companies for a given parent. Note that
several products are selective in the subsidiaries they list.

1) FAME, AMADEUS, OSIRIS

choose Advanced search
enter Company name to select the entity required
click Company report
click Subsidiaries. All will be shown.

2) Bloomberg
enter Company ticker and the command RELS
click Option for major subsidiaries

3) Capital IQ
choose Company intelligence
enter company name to select the equity required
select Investments on left hand menu
enter List of major subsidiaries
SECTION B: Web sites
Official sites
UK: http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/ contains Competition Commission and
Monopolies and Merger Committee reports back to the 1950s.
EU: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/mergers/legislation/legislation.html
USA: http://www.ftc.gov/

Merger activity
http://www.mergerstat.com/newsite/freereport_log.asp has the following free sets of
information for the USA, Europe and Asia: a report on M&A activity from the YTD2007 back
to 1963 (Europe and Asia 2004), a report on 49 industries monitored by Mergerstat, and a
report on top deals for the YTD.

Merger news
http://www.corpfin.co.uk/ has a free monthly M&A review
http://money.cnn.com/news/deals has information on US activity.

Company names
http://www.corporateaffiliations.com/ lists companies that have merged, changed name or
gone out of business since 1976.

*HARTMAN, J. 2005 Looking inside mergers & acquisitions databases. Online 29 (6), pp.33-38.

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