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Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)

Introduction

Some of our financial databases allow you to create lists of M&As based on specific search parameters, such as the date of announcement or completion, the country of the target/s or acquiror/s, etc.

Plus, it is possible to personalize the output and download the results.

Here below you will see how the same type of exercise can be performed in different databases.  At the bottom of each tab, you will find the instructions to access that specific database.

Exercise: get a list of deals filtered by location, deal value and time range.

Exercise: Get a list of deals filtered by location, deal value and time range

Exercise: Find all operations completed between 2018 and 2023 where Italian companies were acquired by European entities except Italy, for more than $40 million.

In Bloomberg you can find M&A data by typing  MA in the command line.

Go to Advanced Search to apply and update all your filters. 

  • The Date Range: click on the filter in the ‘Deal Criteria’ section and select your custom Completion Date Range (01/01/2018 – 12/31/2023). To apply your filters, always click on ‘Update’ after setting up the parameters. 

  • Select the Deal Status, which needs to be Completed. 

  • To select the Target Country, open the Region/Country filter in the ‘Company Universe’ section, select ‘Italy’ and check only the Target option. Then, click ‘Update’. 

  • To select the Acquirer Country, open the Region/Country filter in the ‘Company Universe’ section, select ‘Western Europe’ and ‘Eastern Europe’. To exclude Italy, expand the ‘Western Europe’ selection, click on ‘Italy’ and from the section on the right select ‘Excluded’ in the scroll-down menu. Remember to check the Acquirer option and uncheck the other options. Then, click ‘Update’. 

  • The Deal Type: in this section, check only M&A and click ‘Update’. 

  • The Deal Size: in the ‘Deal Criteria’ section, click on ‘Deal Size’, write down the minimum deal value (40 Mln) and leave the maximum value box blank (but remember to click on it to activate the ‘Update’ button). Then, click ‘Update’. 

We are close to getting the results of our search. But first, if you want to change the currency displayed, open the the scroll-down menu of 'Display currency' (at the bottom of the screen) and select the desired currency (for example, EUR)

You can choose the Search Result View from the scroll-down menu at the bottom. Select ‘Summary’ or ‘Deal List’ to see all the deals following the chosen parameters and click on ‘Results’. 

Now you have your list of deals! Here you can export the results and edit the columns. 

How to access Bloomberg: check our LibGuide.

Exercise: Find all operations completed between 2018 and 2023 where Italian companies were acquired by foreign entities for more than €40 million. 

In LSEG Workspace, you can use the app Screener to get a list of deals.

You will have to select the Universe ‘Deals’ and the Asset Class ‘M&A’ and then browse the Data Library to choose your filters. 

For this exercise, you will need to set up the following filters:

  • The ‘Effective Date’ of the deal, selecting the range between 2018 and 2023.

  • The ‘Target Nation’. You can open the scroll-down menu ‘Western Europe’ and you will see all Western Europe countries: select just ‘Italy’ and click ‘Done’. 

  • As ‘Acquiror Nation’ you should select all countries except Italy. Alternatively, you can select ‘Exclude’ instead of ‘Include’ and choose ‘Italy’ from the scroll-down menu.

  • You need now to set up the ‘Deal Value’: Choose ‘Millions’, write ‘40, then click ‘Done’.

If you need to change currency, like in this case, you can click the Data Item Library icon and change it from there (for example, from USD to EUR). 

Now you have your list of deals: if needed, you can add columns from the section on top of the displayed list and then export the results by clicking the Excel/PDF icon on top right corner of your screen. 

How to access LSEG Workspace (previously called Refinitiv): see our LibGuide.

Exercise: Find all operations completed between 2018 and 2023 where Italian companies were acquired by foreign entities for more than €40 million.

SDC Platinum is included in LSEG Workspace.

After opening a New Session, you can analyze M&A operations entering the proper section.

Now, you need to add the parameters from the Data Item Library in the section below. You can type the desired parameters (Date Effective, Target Nation, etc.) in the search bar or choose them from the displayed list. 

To solve the exercise, you will need to customize your search: 

  • Select the date range by choosing the filter ‘Date Effective’ and then ‘Custom’: here you need to insert the desired date (January 1st,2018 and December 31st, 2023) and click ‘Add’.

  • Then, select ‘Target Nation’ from the Data Item Library, flag ‘Italy’ and click ‘Done’ + ‘Save’. 

  • Now, you will need to set up the ‘Acquiror Nation’ filter. Choose ‘Italy’ from the scroll-down menu, click ‘Done’ and then click on ‘Exclude’ to find all acquiror countries except Italy. 

  • To set up the ‘Deal Value’, you need to insert the parameter ‘greater than 40 million’ and change currency from USD to EUR + ‘Add’. 

After finishing setting up your research, you will see in the above section of your screen all the details of the added search parameters. 

You need now to set up the output of your results by clicking Output > Report > New Custom in the top right corner. 

In this step you can decide what information you want to be displayed in your report, such as Target and Acquiror Name and Nation, Deal Value, Date Announced and Effective, etc.

After setting up your output, click ‘Next’ and ‘Execute’. 

Now you have your list of deals! 

You can edit your output, check/uncheck the columns and finally export your results. 

Please note: SDC Platinum will give you the same results as Screener. The  main difference between the two apps lies in the fact that SDC allows you to export all the results, while Screener has an export limit.

How to access SDC Platinum via LSEG Workspace (previously called Refinitiv): see our LibGuide.

Exercise: Find all operations completed between 2018 and 2023 where Italian companies were acquired by foreign entities for more than €40 million.

Zephyr allows to find M&A operations and related information.  

For this exercise, go to the ‘Zephyr Advanced’ section.

Here you can choose your parameters by entering the proper criterium.

  • Time Period: select the time range (01/01/2019 – 31/12/2023) and check just the ‘Completed-confirmed’ box, then click ‘Ok’. 

  • Geography: after clicking ‘Country’, select ‘Italy’, check the ‘Target’ box on the top right section of the screen and click ‘Ok’. 

  • Geography: after clicking ‘Country’, select ‘Italy’, check the ‘Acquiror’ box on the top right section of the screen and click ‘Ok’. 

Since you need to find foreign companies (i.e. you need to exclude Italian companies) as acquirors, you can use the Boolean search bar to combine the search steps you have created so far with the proper Boolean operators: write "1 AND 2 AND NOT 3", then click 'Refresh' to apply.

From now on, we will be filtering all acquirors except the Italian ones. 

  • Deal value: open the ‘Deal value’ section, insert 40 million € as minimum value in the proper box and click ‘Ok’. 

To see your results, click ‘View list of deals’ on the bottom right corner of your search strategy screen: 

Now you have your list of deals! 

You can add columns, save your search steps, and export your list of results by clicking the buttons on the top right corner of your screen. 

How to access Zephyr: look for the database in the A-Z Databases List and click on the database name.

 

 

Exercise: Find all operations completed between 2018 and 2023 where Italian companies were acquired by western European entities except Italy for more than €40 million.

To find M&A data in FactSet, you can use different Screening applications: Idea Screening, Screen On.

Here you will see how to solve the exercise with the Idea Screening application. Look for this type of Screening the search bar and click on it to open the application.

 

There are different sections: you need to screen M&A transactions. Find the right section and click ‘Start this Screen’. 

 

Now, you can apply your filters. To do so, you need to look for them on the left side of the screen and drag them on the right, where you can directly edit them. 

There may be some filters you don’t need that are already applied: you can remove them by clicking on the red cross on top right corner of the filter. 

Here are the filters needed: 

  • The Completion Date. Write down the time range of your interest (MM/DD/YY): 01/01/2018 - 12/31/2023. 

  • The Transaction Value (in MM). You can change currency from the scroll-down menu on top right corner of your screen (from USD to EUR) and then write ‘40’ as minimum value. 

  • You can also specify the Deal Type by selecting only M&A. 

  • The Transaction Status: in this step, you are asked to check only the completed transactions. 

  • The Target Location: write ‘Italy’ in the search box of this section and select the country as the only Target Location. 

  • The Acquirer Location: to exclude Italy as Acquirer Location, click on the small lens icon and browse all locations available. Click once on ‘Western Europe’ to include all countries (green tick) and click twice just on ‘Italy’ to exclude it (red cross). You will see your selection at the bottom of your Acquirer Location Lookup screen. When you’re done, click ‘ok’. 

When you’re done applying your filters, you can see the number of transactions on the top right corner of your screener bar and click ‘View’ to view your transactions. 

Now you have your list of results! You can edit your Screen or Report and save your results from the functions in the top bar. 

 

How to access FactSet: check our LibGuide.

Exercise: Find all operations completed between 2018 and 2023 where Italian companies were acquired by European entities except Italy for more than €40 million.

With Mergermarket you can find M&A operations in the Classic Deals section. You can find it in the left-side menu of your screen. 

After opening the Classic Deals section, you must apply the filters from the left-side search menu: to do so, select them by checking the corresponding boxes. 

You can now edit your filters from the section on the right. 

There may be default filters already applied: to delete them, click on ‘Remove’ written in red on the right of each filter. 

Here are the filters needed: 

  • Target Geography: write or look for ‘Italy’ 

  • Buyer Geography: write or look for ‘Europe’. To exclude ‘Italy’, add the ‘Is not’ parameter in the same section and write or look for ‘Italy’. 

  • Deal Value: write the minimum value (40 million Euro) and leave the maximum value blank. 

  • The Completed Date: select ‘Custom’ from the scroll-down menu and insert the custom date range (01/01/2018 - 12/31/2023). 

You can change currency from the top left corner of your screen. 

 

Make sure there are no default options checked before viewing your list. 

Click on ‘Search’ to get the results. 

 

Now you have your list of deals! In this screen, you can save and edit your search or export your results. 

 

How to access Mergermarket: find it in the Databases A-Z List and click on the database name.