This guide is an introduction to selected sources used to research companies and intended to support research undertaken by students enrolled in FINE 4150. The focus is on the following topics: Private Equity Leveraged Buyout, Equity Spin-off, and Bankruptcy with Restructuring and Reorganization.

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Related links:
Finance Research Guide
Company Research
Industry Research
Business Resources A-Z

Reference staff in the library are pleased to offer assistance to members of the York University community, either in person, by phone (416-736-5139),by email or by our IM chat reference service.

Search for Target Companies

Click here to view how to search M&As in Bloomberg and SDC Platinum

Bloomberg – use the Corporate Actions for divestiture information etc. Please note that you must change date ranges to appropriate dates and information is limited for many companies. Book a time to use Bloomberg via the Bloomberg Booking page.

SDC Platinum – provides access to Global New Issues and Mergers & Acquisitions. Available on a stand alone workstation in the Bronfman Business Library.

Reuters – Deals/News: For bankruptcies, IPOs and M&A

UCLA-LoPucki Bankrupcy Research Database

Company Filings

EDGAR The US Security and Exchange Commission’s database of public company information including 10k reports for public traded companies and by selecting the full text search option using the advanced search function you can limit your search by company name, the keyword bankruptcy and the date.

SEDAR provides access to full-text Canadian public securities filings. Look for news and material change reports.

 Key Company and Industry Databases

Lexis Nexis Academic: Provides access to documents and records from more than 45,000 legal, news and business sources.  Includes comprehensive company and industry reports, patent details, merger and acquisition analysis, bankruptcies, spin-offs etc.

Investext Plus A database providing global company and industry research and forecasts, reports from key brokerage firms. Currently over 140,000 documents are available in the database dating from 1994 to present. Internet Explorer must be used to access this database.

Mergent Online: Provides information for over 60,000 global publicly traded companies. Company information includes detailed business description, corporate histories, financial statements, ratios, long term debt, earnings estimates, and ownership information. Industry reports on approx. 22 industries are also included.   Historical company information is available in Mergent WebReports.

Marketline Advantage : The Marketline Advantage database is divided into Industry, Country, and Company. It covers SWOT company profiles for over 2500 public and private enterprises worldwide, accessing fast and reliable insights on thousands of industry sectors including Porter’s Five Forces analysis, accessing a top-level view of the business landscape in over 110 countries.

Factiva: In addition to news and magazine articles, a good source for financial data and information on competitors as well as ratio comparison reports. Click on the Companies/Market link at the top of the web page and do a company search. Click on ‘Reports’ and select the type of report you want, e.g. Ratio comparison report provides data on the company, its industry and sector and also the S&P 500 Index companies. Use the Glossary to understand how beta is calculated. To access the Glossary, display the company record, click on Financial Reports and the Glossary will appear on the right hand side of the screen.

NetAdvantage: Standard & Poor’s database provides comprehensive information on business and investment information, offering on-line access to popular Standard & Poor’s research products such as Industry Surveys, Stock Reports and Corporation Records. Use the Corporate Bond Reports for company bond information. Use the Glossary to understand how the beta is calculated. There are industry reports for about 50 US industries.

Business Monitor: contains quarterly surveys and forecasts on Canadian and U.S. industries. Available on the network but restricted to the York University community.

Damodaran Online: website of Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University. Contains updated tables of data related to the courses he teaches on valuation, portfolio management and applied corporate finance. Includes historical industry beta, along with a wealth of other data. To understand how beta is calculated, click on Research and Papers and then ctrl F type – beta – to find document that explains this.

Plunkett Research: provides research and trends analysis on a variety of industries, including energy, e-commerce, retailing and finance. In addition to the industry reports, it includes statistics, charts and profiles of leading companies. Primarily US information but some Canadian information is available.

Mergent Horizon A resource for finding company and industry information, including all companies that are actively traded on the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ. It highlights the relationships between a company’s major customers, suppliers and partners and maps companies from the bottom up, based on actual products and services. Available on the network but restricted to the York University community.

Infomart: A suite of databases from Financial Post Datagroup. Includes a wealth of information on Canadian publicly traded companies organized by key product category including Company Snapshots; Companies by Industry; Corporate Surveys; Predecessor & Defunct; Analyzer Search; Investor Reports (formerly blue sheets); Historical Reports (formerly yellow cards); Dividends; Crosbie Mergers & Acquisitions, and New Issues.

Article Databases

Proquest Business – search for individual companies or for articles on these topics using subjects such as LBOs, Spinoffs and Bankruptcies, etc.

Business Source Premier : contains full text for 7,792 periodicals and other sources, including scholarly journals, trade and general business magazines, monographs, country economic and industry reports, industry yearbooks, and market research reports.

Factiva This database provides access to over 1,000 newspapers, more than 6,500 magazines, 270+ newswires, 160+ Media Programs, 9,000 Web sites in more than 20 languages and more than 20,000 Company Reports. It includes both international and local newspapers.

Citing Sources

Once you have selected relevant business books, articles, web sites or other items for your research, one important final step involves compiling an accurate list of references or citations to incorporate within your marketing plan assignment. There is a section on the Bronfman Business Library web site at http://www.library.yorku.ca/ccm/BG/index.htm under Starting Your Research entitled Citation and Writing Guides at http://www.library.yorku.ca/ccm/BG/guides/citation-guides.htm. This link leads you to the information you need. These guides tell you how to cite many types of resources and illustrate how to cite both print and electronic resources including web sites.

On that page you will find Michigan State University’s Gast Library guide to citing business sources using APA style that includes many of the resources that are available to York University students, faculty and staff. Also you will find examples of MLA citations to business resources that we have in the Bronfman Business Library by using the How to Cite Business Sources in MLA.

For citing unusual resources such as blogs, personal emails, multimedia etc., see net.Tutor Quick Guide:Citing Net Resources.

An online tutorial on Academic Integrity is also available on the York Libraries web site. This explores the issues of plagiarism and related matters. York’s policy and procedures on academic honesty are outlined. The tutorial also offers the opportunity for you to do a self-test allowing you to assess your own understanding of issues relating to academic integrity.

created by Elizabeth Watson Revised by Xuemei in September 2013