Library Guides: IBUS 735 (Saleeby): International M&A Project: Selecting a Deal

Selection Considerations

When selecting a deal, first consider the stage of the deal

Pending/announced
Completed
Terminated

Other factors to consider:

There may be limited information on terminated deals, depending on the reasons behind the termination.
Public deals will have more information available than private ones (i.e., pick a deal with an acquirer that is a US public company).
Larger deals will likely have more information available, including more news and analysts' coverage.

PrivCo

From the default screen in PrivCo, select PRIVATE M&A DEALS in the top bar.

PrivCo
Business and financial data on major, non-publicly traded corporations, including family owned, private equity owned, venture backed, and international unlisted companies. PrivCo also provides information on private investors, private M&A deals, and venture capital funding rounds.

Requires registration with a USC email address.

Finding Recent Deals

I will provide a list of recent deals by stages (pending, completed, and terminated) at the beginning of the semester. I obtain this list from our Bloomberg terminal because of it's comprehensive, real-time data.

You can use some of our databases with remote access to begin looking for deals on your own. See guidance below for searching

Thomson ONE
Factiva
PrivCo

ThomsonONE

**Must use Internet Explorer for Thomson ONE to work properly**

In Thomson ONE, select Market Views in the left column. Under NEWS, select “Significant Developments.”

In the top box, designate the time period and use the TOPIC drop-down box to select “Mergers & Acquisitions.”

Thomson One *Must use Internet Explorer browser*
Locate and analyze 20+ years of U.S. and international public company financial information, historical and current financial statements, stock prices, estimated earnings, deals, and analyst reports.

To search for Investext analysts reports: Choose "Research" from the menu choices on left side of the page. This will display the most recent Investext reports for the selected company. To perform a search within Investext, use the Advanced Research Page link found in the upper right hand corner of the Research webpage. This will allow you to search for reports by company, industry, country or keyword.

Factiva

Beginning in the Search screen in Factiva, expand the blue arrow by Subject. In the search box by SUBJECT, begin typing the word mergers until a drop-down menu appears. There will be a blue arrow next to the word "Mergers."

Click on the arrow (not on the word). You will know you selected it correctly if you see the text ns=cmerg appear in the Free Text Search box at the top. [Alternatively, you can just type this in the search box.]

Next click on SEARCH and a results screen will appear with news on mergers.

Factiva
Access to global news and business information including the Wall Street Journal, as well as local newspapers, same-day newswires, company reports, and media programs. Not all content is available.