Searching for Deals

When looking to prepare comparables of private market transactions, there is no better place to start than a deals search. 

Use this handy search functionality to find exactly what you need, among half a million portfolio companies and assets on Preqin Pro.

Note: Access to certain modules around portfolio companies, assets, and deals are subscription dependent. If you’d like to add this to your subscription or would like more information contact our Client Services team.

Accessing Deals Search

To access a deals search, use Search For > Deals/Exits from the top navigation

Your subscription package will determine the Advanced Search page you land on. Whatever page you land on, you can access different asset classes using the left hand-side navigation menu:

Using Search For

Criteria-based searches across Preqin Pro are incredibly versatile. As well as filtering on criteria, you can add, remove, or move columns from your table, export your results into Excel, or save your search.

Our information on Search For will help you master the basics. Click here to learn more.

Each asset class deal search provides you with a wide range of filters including:

• Deal Date: Filter from when the transaction took place or a choose a range of dates

• Deal Location: Retrieves assets that are HQ’d in the selection

• Sector: Allows a selection of industries of verticals that the portfolio company operates in

• Deal Status: Filters on whether the deal is abandoned, announced, in bidding, completed, or rejected

• Portfolio Company Status: Filters on whether the asset is an active or realized investment
  Investor Location: Retrieves results where there is an investor in the deal HQ’d in the selection

• Investor Type: Allows filtering on type of investor in a deal, covering fund managers, institutional, or institutional private wealth

In the sections below, we’ll discover some of the differences that appear between the different asset classes.

Buyout Deals

In addition to the options described above, you can access a range of buyout-specific options that include:

• Deal Type: Covers both investments and exits

Each deal can have multiple deal types to avoid duplication of transactions on the exit and investment side, such as an add-on trade sale, or to provide more clarity on the deal itself.

When using the ‘Deal Type’ filter and selecting ‘Add-on’, the search results will include every deal that is classified as such. This includes deals that are both investments and exits, as opposed to deals that are only classified as add-ons.

The ‘Exit’ column denotes whether a deal is an exit. For example, an IPO is an exit and so the value in the column is set to ‘Yes’. In case of deals which are both investments and exits, such as an ‘Add-on, Trade Sale’, the value in the column will also be set to ‘Yes’. This column can be added via ‘Manage Columns’.

Merger deals can be found via the Buyout Deal Search on Preqin Pro by selecting ‘Merger’ in the ‘Investments’ drop-down menu under the 'Deal Type' filter.

A merger deal is shown on as many rows as there are companies involved in the merger, which are referred to as “targets”. The rows are therefore repeated based on the number of targets in the deal. The merged entity is referred to as "investor”. When the data is exported, all targets within a merger are associated with the same deal ID to be easily identified.

Please note that the number of rows on the search will not match the number of deals on the chart, which are not repeated.

• Investment Stake: Covers whether the buyer took full ownership, and minority/majority positions

Venture Capital Deals

Items relevant to the venture capital universe of deals include:

• Deal Stage: Covers the stage of venture capital financing – angel, seed, series A-L, growth capital/expansion, PIPE, add-ons, mergers, pre-IPO, grants, venture debt, and secondary stock purchases

Private Debt Deals

Items relevant to the private debt universe of deals include:

• Transaction Type: Covers add-ons, buyouts, distressed debt, growth capital, mergers, PIPE, public to private, recapitalizations, restructurings, special situations, and turnarounds

• Capital Structure: Allows you to filter on the capital structure of the private debt transaction covering senior debt, mezzanine, junior/subordinated, or unitranche

• Debt Provider Location: Retrieves results based on where the debt provider in the deal HQ’d

Real Estate Deals

Items relevant to the real estate universe of deals include:

• Asset Location: Retrieves results where the property is in the selection

• Asset Type: Filter on the type of real estate covering office, industrial, retail, mixed use, residential, land, operating company, hotel, niche, and underlying property types

• Buyer/Seller Type: Filter on an investor, fund manager, or others in the type of firms participating in the deal

• Buyer/Seller Location: Retrieves results based on where the buyer or seller involved in a transaction is HQ’d

Infrastructure Deals

Items relevant to the infrastructure universe of deals include:

• Asset Location: Retrieves results where the asset is in the selection

• Industry: Filter on the type of infrastructure involved in a transaction covering economic, social, diversified, and underlying infrastructure asset types

• Deal Status: Retrieves results for deals at the bidding stage, where the bid has failed, or where the deal was completed

• Project Stage: Filter for assets involved in a deal by the project stage covering brownfield, greenfield, or secondary stage projects

• Buyer/Seller Type: Filter on an investor, fund manager, or others in the type of firms participating in the deal

• Investor Location: Retrieves results based on where the buyer involved in a transaction is HQ’d