Description

Connecting SDC's M&A database to Compustat requires gvkey's for both the acquirer and target (if they are traded/public). Gordon Phillips and Alexei Zhdanov (RFS, 2013) created the first major mapping between firms in SDC and Compustat using a combination of name and date matching. Gaps were filled in using a fuzzy string search aided by manual checks that replicates the gvkey search in WRDS. The data was used in Ewens, Peters and Wang (2024). Either myself or a research assistant searched all M&As deals from 1976--2024 with a public target or acquirer that did not have a gvkey in the Phillips and Zhdanov data, comparing names and dates by hand after a fuzzy merge.

Data

The data connecting SDC deal number to gvkeys is in csv form with the following structure:

(DealNumber, tgvkey, agvkey, source)

where

• DealNumber: SDC identifier for deals.
• agvkey: the acquirer gvkey (can be missing)
• tgvkey: the target gvkey (can be missing)
• source: indicates a new merge from a June 2024 merge of SDC and Compustat, 0 or 1.
• multiple_targets: indicator if there are multiple matches (targets). Indicator of subsidiary purchase and comparison to old versions of mapping.

Note that this includes all deals where we could find a gvkey for the acquirer or target. Basic statistics as of June 21, 2024:

• 132,497 deals with agvkey
• 60,071 deals with tgveky
• 24,153 with both agvkey and tgveky

Company-level match using CUSIP

This file was removed because WRDS provides this already and SDC has a CUSIP.

Updates

Stay tuned (i.e., watch or star this repo.) for updates. For any errors or fill-ins, please email michael.ewens@gmail.com.

Citations

@article{ewensPetersWang2018,
 title={Measuring Intangible Capital with Market Prices},
 author={Ewens, Michael and Peters, Ryan and Wang, Sean},
 journal={Management Science}
 year={2024}
 }

and

@article{phillips2013r,
  title={R\&D and the Incentives from Merger and Acquisition Activity},
  author={Phillips, Gordon M and Zhdanov, Alexei},
  journal={The Review of Financial Studies},
  volume={26},
  number={1},
  pages={34--78},
  year={2013},
  publisher={Society for Financial Studies}
  }