Mergers and Acquisitions

 Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Financial) is the premier source for information on individual M&A deals. Their data can be accessed through Refinitiv Workspace and Wharton Research Data Services.

The database has details on all announced deals, whether completed or uncompleted. The database covers U.S. targets 1979 to present and Non U.S. targets 1985 to present.
Data available include full financial details, advisors and fees, premiums paid, etc., to the extent that Refinitiv can collect it.

Thomson's data were formerly collected by Securities Data Corporation and accessed through a program called SDC Platinum. SDC Platinum will often appear as a source in empirical research, but the data are the same in Workspace.

How to access deal data in Workspace

1. Connect to Refinitiv Workspace
2. Choose Search Tools
3. Click on M&A
4. You can select filters in the left hand column to narrow a search.

You are limited 15,000 rows in a results set. Add more filters if you get this message.

Access more data using SDC Platinum in WRDS. It is under Thomson/Refinitiv in the dataset list.

The FactSet Mergerstat M&A database is included in Nexis Uni, but it is  best for looking up specific deals as the searching is cumbersome. It does not offer Excel download of deal details. 

There are many publications dedicated to coverage of the M & A sector. Many of the the major publications are available in online databases like ABI/INFORM and Business Source Complete.
Some important publications:

• Mergers & Acquisitions
  News and other information. Business Source Complete includes rosters of recently completed transactions.
  ABI/INFORM 1993 - present
  Business Source Complete 1998 - present