Firms turn to data analytics to gain competitive edge in hunt for acquisitions

As buyout multiples have climbed and capital piles up in private investment funds, acquirers have been looking for a competitive edge in their hunt for acquisitions. For some firms, that has meant doing more advanced data analysis in an effort to better understand, value and integrate a business into their portfolio. And that is bringing computer science and M&A communities closer than ever. Deal making has always required rigorous number crunching and sophisticated excel modelling, but increasingly it's also involving the use of "unstructured data" that don't format neatly in a spreadsheet, such as census figures, social media inputs, image files and even weather patterns. New technology can help acquirers such as pension funds and private-equity buyers when they're prospecting for deals as well as in the due-diligence and integration phases of the deal.