Access to company information has never been easier. The challenge facing corporate finance advisers, private equity investors and acquisitive businesses is not finding company data but identifying which businesses represent genuine acquisition opportunities. Most company databases can generate lists of businesses. Far fewer help users understand which companies are strategically attractive, which ownership structures may...

Identifying the right acquisition targets is one of the most important stages of any deal origination programme. Effective business segmentation enables acquirers to focus on companies that match specific financial, sector, geographic and ownership criteria, helping to build targeted acquisition pipelines and uncover opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked. Rather than screening thousands of companies...

Most acquisition programmes begin by defining a target market. However, effective market definition requires more than a simple SIC code search. Businesses can be segmented using multiple criteria including industry activity, geography, size, ownership structure and financial performance. These data layers are most useful when they are brought together within a single company intelligence platformThe...

Finding better acquisition targets than SIC codes allow requires a more accurate approach to market definition and acquisition research. However, SIC codes were never designed for acquisition research. Whilst they can provide a useful starting point, they often group together businesses with very different activities and can overlook specialist companies that may represent attractive acquisition...