To search for deals associated with a specific company:
- Click on the 'Company/Security' tab on the top horizontal bar
- Enter the name of the company in the search box
- FactSet will auto-suggest matches for your company; click to select a name and this company will load in the company or equity-focused components or tabs associated with FactSet
- Scroll down the left-hand menu to 'Transactions' > 'M&A Summary'
- 'M&A Summary' provides:
- A 'Deal Activity Chart' for the last several years from current date showing price & volume, with M&A activity flagged (look for the green or red icons, which are clickable)
- Summary or aggregate M&A statistics
- Last 10 years of M&A deals with option to view all; individual deals can be clicked to view full details
- Advisors involved in the deals
To search for deals that meet certain criteria:
- Select the 'Screening' tab from the top horizontal bar
- Select the 'Idea Screening' option and then select 'Mergers & Acquisitions'
- Basic criteria like 'Announcement Date' and 'Deal Type' are already available in the centre screen
- Select other screening criteria such as industry or geography from the left-hand menu and drag these over to the centre screen (a 'hand' will appear when mousing over criteria categories that can be moved); these will then allow you to search or drill-down to select the appropriate criteria
- Select other deal-related criteria, e.g. status or type, also from the right-hand menu
- Click on the green 'View Results' button to generate your screening results
- Click on 'Edit Screen' to add, remove or edit your criteria
- Click on 'Edit Report' to add additional items about the target, acquirer, deal, etc.; this does NOT modify your screening criteria
To chart market reaction to a deal:
- Click on the Charting tab to open the charting application
- If a company has not been previously selected, use the search box to select a company; once selected, Price and Volume are the default series and the last 12 months (LTM) is the default timeframe displayed
- If charting more than one company, use the 2nd search box 'Compare' to find and select another company and display both securities in the charting application
- Use the date menu bar at the bottom right of the chart to change the timeframe you wish to chart, using either the existing options or the calendar icon to select a custom timeframe
- Click on the green '+' sign beside 'Series' in the top menu to add more time series in categories such as:
- Valuation (e.g. p/e, price to book value)
- Profitability (e.g. return on assets, return on equity, gross margin)
- Per Share (e.g. cash flow per share, book value per share)
- Size (e.g. market value, enterprise value)
To see a league table of investment banking firms (ranked on transaction size, fees, or other criteria):
- Select the Screening tab and select 'M&A' under 'Transactions'
- Then in the 'View' dropdown in the top left, select 'League Tables' > Type of Financial Advisor OR if you are already in the Screening tab, click on the 'green +' tab besides the one that is current to open up a new screen
- Select your criteria as described above
- Click on the green 'View Results' button to generate a league table
