We noticed that many of our www.PrivateEquityInfo.com customers were frustrated using Excel to track their deal flow and active M&A projects. Consequently, we expanded www.PrivateEquityInfo.com to include a Deal Flow Management System specifically designed for investment banking projects.
Key Features Include:
Easily migrate contacts from the corporate finance Research Database to the CRM
Journal all interactions with clients and prospects - includes author and time stamp
Manage your projects in a customizable M&A focused Project Tracking tool
Quickly see where players are within a deal
Simple interface with near-zero learning curve
How do I begin using www.peiServices.com?
Visit the Pricing page to either subscribe to the service or to sign-up for a 30-day free trial. The Free Trial provides the full functionality of the service with the exception that the research database limits the search results to the first two only and does not include a download-to-Excel feature for the Research Database searches that you perform. Please contact us if you have specific questions about subscriptions or need to discuss a corporate license?
Will my subscription automatically renew after the first year?
No. As a courtesy to our customers we do not automatically renew subscriptions.
What if I subscribe and the service does not meet my needs?
If you are not entirely sure this is the best resource for you, we recommend that you use the Free Trial first. With a Free Trial you will have 30 days to evaluate the service at no cost.
What measures are in place to ensure my information is kept confidential?
We understand the extreme nature of the confidentiality and integrity of your data. This is why we have built our platform behind a fully-encrypted domain in an isolated server environment. Further, our role-based permissions system allows you to assign varying levels of security to other users collaborating on your project. Permissions may be set to view only, view-and-edit or view-edit-and-download based on the user’s status within your project.
My Account
How do I change my password?
If you know your existing password, log in and click on the My Account tab located on the far left of the screen. Select Change My Password and then answer the prompted questions. If you do not remember your password, select the Forgot Password option underneath the login details located on the top right of the screen. You will be asked to enter your email address. A message will be sent to that address directing you on the next steps to safely and securely change your password.
How do I change my display name?
On the My Account page, click on the existing name listed to the right of Display Name. A box will open allowing you to edit the Display Name details. Our Quick Edit feature (which displays a small pencil icon upon mouseover allows you to make quick changes that do not require you to save).
How do I adjust the time zone for the date stamping?
On the My Account page, locate the drop down menu to the right of Time Zone Stamp. Select your correct time zone and save. All your time stamped notes from previous and future entries will now be displayed in the selected time zone.
How do I upload my Outlook contacts to the CRM?
You may upload contacts to your PEI Services CRM by simply uploading a CSV file that you have exported from Outlook. If you have any questions or if you are unsure about how to do this, please contact us. We are happy to assist with this to ensure a smooth process.
Step-By-Step Process to Prepare a CSV File to be Up-Loaded
Select File
Select Import and Export
Select Export to a file
Select Comma Separated Values (Windows)
Select the desired folder with your contacts
Save file in desired folder on your computer
Dashboard
What is the Dashboard?
From the Dashboard screen you will be able to view a summary of all three key sections of www.peiServices.com. Quickly add a new contact, start a new project or view data modules available within the Research Database. Select any of the highlighted words to go directly to the corresponding page. You can also track the remaining disk space available to you for uploading documents.
Research Database
What is the Research Database?
Powered by www.PrivateEquityInfo.com, the Research Database is a high-quality, comprehensive and up-to-date research tool for firms and key executives in the mergers and acquisitions space. Each data module is self-contained with separate search engines for each type of data available on a particular data module. For specific help on each search engine, please refer to the About This Search link below each search engine.
What does the Research Database track?
Currently, the Research Database tracks: Private Equity Firms, Hedge Funds, Mezzanine Firms, SBICs, Valuation Firms, M&A Firms, Real Estate Investors, Senior Lenders and Public Companies.
How often is the database updated?
We employ two methods to update the Research Database to ensure the information is always current and accurate. 1) As we learn of new events through press releases or from the firms themselves, we reflect this in the database immediately. 2) We also have a systematic approach to continuously update the database, updating one letter of the alphabet each week. This process results in a complete overhaul of the database every 6 months on a rolling basis.
Who should use the Research Database?
The target customer is a middle market investment banker, business intermediary or business owner wanting to sell his or her business. Customers also include M&A-related service providers such as transaction lawyers, accountants, consultants, finance-focused executive search firms, MBA candidates and the private equity firms themselves.
What if I want to perform a custom search not provided online?
Do you charge the firms to be included in the database?
No. Otherwise, we would not have a complete (and unbiased) data set.
How do I suggest a firm to add to the database?
Contact us we are always appreciative of customer suggestions.
Can I call for assistance if I have a question about my search?
Absolutely! We are knowledgeable about our product, the information that it contains and the best ways to search on it to get you the results that you need.
What does the Private Equity module track?
The Private Equity module is a comprehensive directory of private equity firms, including their contact information, acquisition criteria, industries of investment interests, portfolio companies and professional biographies.
Sort and filter Global private equity firms by their acquisition criteria, industries of investment interest, transaction types and geographic location.
Keyword search the business descriptions of portfolio companies to quickly identify those that present a strategic fit.
View the business descriptions, locations, websites, investment dates, exit dates and transaction comments of both current and prior portfolio company investments.
Keyword search the biographies of private equity senior executives to quickly determine the right person to approach at a particular firm.
What is private equity?
Private equity investors buy, improve upon and sell businesses in an effort to profit from the cash flow the business produces and from the capital gains upon exit.
Which private equity firms do you include?
We are very selective about the firms that we choose to include. The general criteria used are that the firm must be reputable and actively closing deals in the marketplace. As such, we intentionally omit venture capital firms, angel investors, mezzanine funds, fund of funds and other extraneous noise from the data set. This is therefore a very clean, focused database appropriate for professional use.
Do you provide email addresses for the private equity professionals?
Of the professionals we track, we have approximately 70% of their email addresses.
What does the Hedge Fund module include?
This data module is a fully-searchable, comprehensive database of SEC registered hedge funds, their key executives and the associated private funds that they operate.
What is a hedge fund?
A hedge fund is a privately-offered, managed pool of capital for wealthy, accredited investors.
How reliable is the data?
The underlying source data for this database are the firms' SEC filings. The data is therefore high quality and highly reliable.
What does the Mezzanine module include?
This data module allows you to search U.S. mezzanine firms by state or alphabetically and view their contact information. You can also keyword search the biographies of mezzanine investor executives to quickly determine the right person to approach at a particular firm.
What is mezzanine debt?
Mezzanine debt is subordinated debt that ranks between other subordinated debt and equity in the event of bankruptcy (in which case mezzanine debt providers are repaid only after all other subordinated debt claims have been settled). Mezzanine debt often incorporates equity—based options such as warrants.
What does the Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC) module include?
This data module allows you to search U.S. SBIC firms by state or alphabetically and view their contact information and general investment criteria.
What is an SBIC firm?
Small Business Investment Companies contribute equity and/or debt investment capital to small businesses. SBICs may be viewed as small, regionally-focused private equity firms that typically focus on much smaller transactions compared to more traditional private equity firms.
What is the purpose of the SBIC program?
SBICs operate under the Investment Division of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) with the intent to stimulate the flow of private equity capital and long-term loans to small businesses.
How do SBICs work?
SBICs may receive up to 300% additional leverage on their private capital from SBA-guaranteed debentures. To obtain this leverage, SBICs issue debentures or participating securities, which are guaranteed by the SBA. Separate pools of either SBA-guaranteed debentures or participating securities are formed and sold to investors through securities offerings. SBIC fund managers must qualify for an SBIC license to participate in the SBIC program and are subject to an annual regulatory audit.
In what companies may SBICs invest?
Only companies defined as “small” are eligible for SBIC financing. The SBIC Program defines "small” as a net worth less than $18.0 million and an average after tax net income for the prior two years less than $6.0 million. Further, SBICs are prohibited from investing in project finance such as real estate and motion pictures.
What is typically the purpose of SBICs capital?
Over 90% of SBIC financing typically goes to operating capital (~50%) and acquisition capital (~40%). Other uses of investment capital include plant modernization, refinancings, new building construction, purchase of new equipment and machinery, land acquisition, marketing activities and research and development.
Do SBICs typically contribute equity or debt?
Approximately half of all SBIC financings are straight equity, about 25% are straight debt and the remaining 25% are a debt-with-equity structure.
What does the Valuation Firms module include?
This data module allows you to search U.S. valuation service providers by state or alphabetically and view their contact information.
What are valuation firms?
The valuation service providers in this database provide business appraisals and company valuations, typically arising from a pending change in ownership, such as an M&A transaction.
What does the M&A Advisory Firms module include?
This data module allows you to search U.S. M&A Advisory Firms by location, typical transaction size or alphabetically. View the firms' contact information, key executives and categorization as either bulge bracket investment bank, middle market investment bank or business broker. You will also be able to keyword search thousands of senior-level investment bankers’ and intermediaries’ professional biographies. Plus, you can view titles and individual email addresses (when available).
What is an M&A advisory firm?
Merger and acquisition (M&A) advisors provide strategic advisory services for corporate mergers, acquisitions and other types of financial transactions as well as assist public and private corporations in raising equity and debt in the capital markets. These corporate finance advisory firms facilitate mergers and acquisitions, private placements, capital raises and corporate restructuring.
Which M&A professionals are tracked?
Only senior-level professionals are included. Office staff, Analysts, Associates and other junior titles are therefore excluded from this data set.
What's the difference between a bulge bracket investment bank, a middle market firm and a business broker?
Although there is no strict definition, generally speaking, business brokers represent smaller clients with transaction values typically less than $5 million. Middle market firms tend to focus on companies where the enterprise value of the transaction is between $5 million and $75 million. Bulge bracket investment banks do not normally work on transactions less than $50 million unless there is a strategic rationale such as a follow-on opportunity.
What's the difference between an M&A advisory firm and an investment bank?
The key differentiators between a firm designated as an investment bank and a firm that operates as an M&A advisor is that an investment bank – in addition to performing an M&A advisory role – may also:
* Advise companies on matters related to the issue and placement of stock
* Act as an underwriter or agent for corporations and municipalities issuing securities
* Maintain broker/dealer operations
* Maintain markets for previously issued securities
* Offer advisory services to investors.
What do M&A advisors typically do for a company?
The M&A advisor provides the match making service of bringing together buyers and sellers of businesses. As part of this effort, an M&A advisory firm’s services typically include:
* A valuation of the business
* Creation of the marketing material
* Marketing the business
* Conducting initial interviews and discussions with prospective acquirers
* Providing strategic insights and negotiations skills on behalf of the client
* Assisting with due diligence
* Resolving transaction issues throughout the process
What does the Real Estate Investor module include?
This data module allows you to search institutional real estate investors, primarily in the United States, by location of the firm's headquarters, investment focus or alphabetically. You can view the contact information and general comments about the firms. You can also keyword search hundreds business profiles to quickly identify those that present a strategic fit.
How do you define a real estate investor?
The firms in this data set are premium grade investors that have a specific investment focus on the real estate sector. These firms include real estate investment trusts (REITs), real estate-focused private equity firms, hedge funds and other institutional grade firms that are active investors of debt and / or equity capital in the real estate market. We try to exclude small investors and firms that might classify themselves as hard money lenders.
If I search by region, is that the investor's headquarters or their geographic area of interest?
When you search the real estate investor database by region, the search results are those firms that are headquartered in that region or state. Please note that most of the firms will invest nationally, if not internationally.
What does it mean when a real estate investment firm is categorized as having an investment interest in financial securities?
These firms make equity and/or debt investments in financial securities backed by real estate assets. Common examples of this would be collateralized debt obligations and mortgage-backed securities.
What does the Real Estate Investor module include?
This data module allows you to search senior lenders by location of headquarters, loan types & purposes, number of offices or alphabetically.
What is a senior lender firm?
Senior lenders are typically commercial banks or other institutional lending firms that provide senior debt to corporations for a variety of purposes. The most prevalent purposes include: accounts receivable financing, commercial real estate loans, growth financing, equipment financing, M&A financing, project financing, Small Business Administration (SBA) financing and working capital financing.
Because senior debt has first priority in the event of liquidation, it is a lower risk investment for the senior debt provider (compared to junior, subordinated debt, mezzanine debt or equity investments). Consequently, senior debt is the most common and most affordable form of financing for the debt seeker. That is, the cost of capital is lower for senior debt compared to other forms of financing.
What’s the difference between senior debt and mezzanine debt?
Besides the fact that mezzanine debt is subordinated to senior debt in the event of a liquidation, mezzanine debt often carries equity components with it such as warrants or other convertible securities that provide an option for the debt holder to convert the debt into equity within a specified time frame. Senior debt would rarely have convertible provisions attached to it.
What does the Public Company module include?
This data module allows you to keyword search the business descriptions of thousands of the largest publicly traded companies listed on the NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX stock exchanges. Also, filter by location and traded exchange. View the contact information and business profiles.
What is a public company?
Public companies offer their registered securities to the general investing public through a stock exchange.
Which public companies are included in the database?
We track the largest public companies by enterprise value on the NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX exchanges. The majority of the companies in this database are therefore headquartered in the United States. Approximately 10% of the companies included in this data set are located outside of the United States.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
What is the purpose of the CRM?
The CRM tool is specifically designed to allow M&A professionals to track their deal flow, make specific journal entries about contacts and quickly associate contacts to specific projects on the Project Tracking tab. The CRM allows you to make a historical author- and time-stamped trail of activity associated with a particular contact.
How do you edit a contact?
To edit a contact, either click on the person's name or click the edit icon on the far right. Some data fields allow you to make quick edits without having to open the contact to edit. If you hover over a particular data field, you may quick edit it if you see the small pencil icon appear. A quick edit requires no saving. It saves your change automatically.
What's the difference between the two download-to-Excel options?
The download contacts to Excel option provides a nicely formatted Excel file that is easy to work with from within Excel itself. However, if you are exporting your CRM contacts for the purpose of importing them into Outlook or another similar program, you will need to export using the Download Contacts to CSV option.
How do I upload my Outlook contacts to the CRM?
You may upload contacts to your PEI Services CRM by simply uploading a CSV file that you have exported from Outlook. If you have any questions or if you are unsure about how to do this, please contact us. We are happy to assist with this to ensure a smooth process.
Step-By-Step Process to Prepare a CSV File to be Up-Loaded
Select File
Select Import and Export
Select Export to a file
Select Comma Separated Values (Windows)
Select the desired folder with your contacts
Save file in desired folder on your computer
How do I associate a contact with a Project?
The CRM tool allows you to associate (assign) a contact with a particular Project. If you choose this, you must also associate the contact with a specific Group within the Project (otherwise the contact will not show up on the Project Tracking tab). If you do not see Projects nor Groups to assign the contact to, you will first need to go to the Project Tracking tab and create the Project and respective Groups acting within that Project.
How do I associate a contact with a Project Group?
To track a contact within a specific Project, you must also assign the contact to a specific Group within the Project (otherwise the contact will not show up on the Project Tracking tab). If after selecting a Project, you do not see Groups, you will first need to go to the Project Tracking tab and create the Project Groups that you want for this Project.
How do I create categories for my contacts?
Categories within the CRM allow you to group contacts (for example: LEADS, COLLEAGUES, CLIENTS, FAMILY, FRIENDS, etc.) and then subsequently view them together as a separate list.
Note: please be careful if deleting a category because this will remove the category from all your contacts that you may have already associated with this category. Rather than deleting a category, you likely want to de-select the category for a particular contact. To make multiple selections (or to de-select an option) press and hold the Ctrl key while clicking.
Can I designate contacts as private for my viewing only and other contacts as viewable to other users at my firm?
Yes, you can. When you add a contact from your own list or through the Research Database it will automatically be designated as a private contact. If you would like other users at your firm to be able to view certain contacts you should check the “Share Firm-Wide” box located at the bottom of the window when adding or editing a contact.
What happens if I check the Private Contacts box on the main CRM page?
Checking this box ensures that the CRM displays your private contacts in list format for you to view. Either the Private Contacts or the Firm-Wide Contacts options (or both) must be checked to view contacts on the main CRM page.
What happens if I check the Firm-wide Contacts box on the main CRM page?
If you have multiple PEIServices.com subscribers at your firm (or if you have a corporate license), you may decide to share some of your contacts firm-wide. This is particularly useful to jointly update and track common contacts across the firm. By checking this box, the CRM contacts below will display firm-wide contacts... those that you have designated as firm-wide and those that others within your firm have designated as firm-wide.
How do I get to the Contacts & Notes page?
On the main CRM page you will see a list of your contacts. To make a note about an individual contact either click on the contacts name or on the notepad icon to the right and you will be directed to the View Contact & Notes page. You may also edit a contact by clicking the edit link from the View Contact & Notes page.
How do I add notes about a contact?
To make a note about a contact, type your note in the space provided on the Contact & Notes page and click Add Note. Your note will automatically be author and date/time stamped.
How do I view individual contact notes within the Project Tracker?
To associate your note with a particular Project, be sure to select the Project as well. If you do not select a Project, the note will be retained with the contact but will not display on the Project Tracking tab.
Once I add a contact from the Research Database how do I keep the information updated?
The View Contact & Notes page presents two views of your contact's information. On the left, under the label Contact, is the information that you have retained about this contact. On the right, under the label Data from Research Database on Contact, is the information that PEI Services has about this same contact (if the contact is in fact in the database). This allows you to quickly reference the most current PEI Services information against your information on the same contact. We also show you the date of our last update on this specific contact. (Note: A match between your contact and a contact in the Research Database is determined by a unique email address match.)
Project Tracking
What is the purpose of the Project Tracker?
The Project Tracker seamlessly integrates our Research Database and CRM with a tool specifically designed for tracking the M&A deal flow process. The main Project Tracking page displays your master list of Projects. You can click on the Project name to view further details about a Project or click on the Edit Project icon to edit the Project settings (Name, Type, Status, Last updated, Comments, Permissions and Project Steps).
Can I invite others to participate in my Projects?
As the Project Leader (by definition, the creator of a Project is the Project Leader), you may invite others to participate in your Projects by sending PEIServices.com customers an invitation. Depending on the level of contribution you would like invitees to have, you may permission other participants on your Project at three different levels: View, View & Edit or View, Edit & Download.
How do I add a new Project?
From the main Project Tracking page, click on the large plus sign next to Add a New Project. When creating a new Project, we have provided the ability for you to create and save templates for various Project types such that you do not need to populate the Project steps for each new Project that you start... just begin from one of your saved templates and alter as needed.
Can I edit the pre-defined project steps?
We have provided several pre-defined templates with pre-defined project steps. You can use these as a starting point and edit the master templates (by clicking Edit Types) or you may create your own templates from scratch. Note that once a Project’s steps have been created, changing that template does NOT affect the existing Project steps.
How do I change the order in which the project steps are displayed?
To change the display order of your project steps, first click on the Edit Steps link on the far right of the steps shown. Then, simply drag and drop the steps to re-order them.
What happens to my Projects if I change the template types or steps?
1. Changes to Project steps within a Project only affect that Project. They do not change the master template... nor will it change other Projects of the same type.
2. You can only change the master template by changing the template itself within the Edit Project Types and Steps Templates form.
3. Changes to the master template for a particular Project type only affect future-created projects. That is, changes to the master templates do not change your pre-existing Projects.
How do I add a new Group to a Project?
To add a new Group to a Project, first click on the Project name and then click on Add a New Group. From there you will type the Group name and click Add New Group. Continue adding as many Groups as you need, then click Return to Main Window when complete. This enables you to add multiple Groups at a time (up to 10).
How do I upload a document pertaining to a particular Group?
From the main Project Tracking page, you will need to click on the relevant Project name, then the relevant Group. This will take you to a page containing a section called Attachments. Look for the paperclip, once selected it will ask for the document details. (Note: Anywhere you see a paperclip you will be able to upload a document.)
