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CORP DEV, PE, SEARCH FUNDS

Acquisition targets

Turn a thesis into a target list, including the companies that will never appear in a broker's book.

Diligence is the most expensive way to discover a target was never viable. Every wrong name is billable hours.

A SWEEP ON THIS BRIEF

7 FOUND2 KEPT5 REJECTED
  • Owner-managed, filings clear
  • Fits thesis on size + model
  • Strategic took majority
  • Ownership unresolvable
  • Founder-dependent, no succession
  • Already in a process
  • Revenue band too small

2 survived. The other 5 arrive too, each with the reason it failed.

The boundary.

Two answers define this brief. The second one is where the work is, and it is the question most teams never get asked.

WHAT COUNTS

Companies matching the thesis on size, model and geography, where ownership and structure can be established from filings.

WHAT IS RULED OUT

Already held by a strategic. Ownership structure that cannot be resolved from public record. Founder-dependency with no succession where the thesis requires continuity.

What a surviving row carries.

Every field below is either sourced or blank. Nothing on this list is inferred to fill a gap.

01

Ownership and structure, from filings, dated

02

Headcount and revenue band with the basis for each

03

Why the company is unlikely to be on a broker's list

And one that did not make it.

Found, researched, thrown out — and sent to you anyway, with the reason. This is the half a data vendor never shows.

A clean thesis match on size and sector

Majority stake taken by a strategic acquirer last year. Filing is public; the company website does not mention it.