We helped PitchBook improve their platform by
finding additional sources on deal-to-fund tagging for Private equity transactions
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The world of private equity (PE), already formidable in size, is expected to see continued rapid growth in the coming years. Global PE assets under management are forecast to reach US$5.8 trillion by 2025.
Specifically, PitchBook requested publicly available, granular information pertaining to the investments made by an individual fund of an investor, known as deal-to-fund tagging.
PhaseShift Labs dedicated our final two quarters understanding PitchBook’s current information sourcing processes, devising a plan of action, identifying possible sources of information that meet PitchBook’s criteria, and providing recommendations on how to capture information that will ultimately enhance the company’s offerings to clients.
The team began a targeted search for deal-to-fund information armed with a strategy grounded in data and analysis. We designed a search log which contained information on the source, the URL, whether or not there was valid information, if the information agreed with what was on PitchBook’s platform.
Five sources have yielded valid deal-to-fund tagging for multiple companies. Let's take a closer look at them.
The UK’s equivalent of the SEC contains numerous filings on public and private companies. One such filing, the Scheme of arrangement, sometimes contains valid information which has been found in the The Scheme section of the filing immediately following the Preliminary section.
Often the information is laid out in very legalistic terms which vary from filing to filing. Due to this lack of structure, the fact that not all scheme of arrangement filings have the same format, and that the filings are stored as images means that automation may be difficult, and OCR would likely be necessary.
The Scheme of arrangement documents are not standardized, but all have a section titled The Scheme, with a subsection titled Transfer of the Scheme Shares or Transfer of * Scheme Shares (where * designates the name of the investor or fund).
The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers is an independent body that regulates takeover bids and other merger transactions for companies which have their registered offices in the UK if any of their securities are admitted to trading on a UK regulated market.
Looking forward, this source seems to be very promising, specifically the Disclosure Table, found here, which is updated daily. The Offeree and Offeror seem to contain relevant investors, and in some cases fund information.
The disclosure table is also available for download to Excel, CSV, and XML formats, potentially easing automation moving forward.
The London Stock Exchange Regulatory News Service (RNS) service aggregates a wide variety of news on companies traded on the London Stock Exchange. There are a number of events related to Public to Private deals that generate news on the site, and some contain valid investor and deal-to-fund information.
The headlines for documents that have contained valid information vary widely, and to date have included the following (each headline includes a corresponding screenshot)
SEDAR the Canadian equivalent of the SEC, contains numerous filings on public and private companies. Two filings, Form 51-102F3, and Arrangement Agreement Execution Version, sometimes contain valid information, although it is buried in legalese.
Similar to the UK Companies House data, using these documents to cross-reference other sources might make the most sense, and a human-in-the-loop-approach is likely the most promising. Similar to the other government filings, there is not always a perfect match between how entities are named on the government filings and PitchBook’s platform, which might cause some confusion and difficulties for automation
For example, PitchBook lists Trive Capital Fund III as the Investor Funds for Seven Aces, but the Arrangement Agreement Execution Version lists TCFIII LUCK HOLDINGS LLC
The New Zealand Companies Office New Zealand’s equivalent of the SEC, contains numerous filings on public and private companies. Two filings, the Scheme of Arrangement | Initial orders under section 236 filing and Scheme of Arrangement | Final orders under section 236 have yielded valid investor and deal-to-fund information.
Similar to the UK Companies House and SEDAR data, using these documents to cross-reference other sources might make the most sense, and a human-in-the-loop approach is likely the most promising. The filings appear to be very inconsistent, and one additional reason for the human-in-the-loop approach is that the filings are stored as images.
To find investor or deal-to-fund information using Companies Office, search the register for the name of the company that was purchased (Company Name on PitchBook’s platform).
We are professionals from the Masters in Information Mgmt. program at UW, with significant achievements and breadth of experience. We are incredibly grateful to PitchBook for the opportunity, and appreciate the guidance of our sponsor, Michael Mott.
Specializing in Information-security, product-analytics, experience-design, with a successful track record.
Data Scientist. Information Technology | Data Analytics | Business Intelligence | Management Consulting.
Research and Strategy Head, Data-science, Information-architecture, quantitative research.
Visualization engineer, Business Strategy, Data Science, business communication, Project Management.