---
title: PE Deal Screening
description: Screen a private-equity opportunity against a fund's mandate and return a structured go/no-go with the key diligence questions to pursue.
category: Finance
sublabel: Private Equity
author: Predictive Labs
tags: private equity, deal sourcing, screening, diligence
---

# PE Deal Screening

Give a fast, structured first read on whether a private-equity opportunity is worth
pursuing, and frame the diligence that would confirm or kill it.

## When to use

- Triaging inbound deal flow against the fund mandate.
- Preparing a screening memo for the deal team or IC.

## Inputs

- The target: sector, size, geography, ownership, entry situation.
- The fund's mandate (cheque size, sectors, control vs. minority, return targets).
- Available financials and any thesis the seller/intermediary is presenting.

## Steps

1. Check mandate fit: size, sector, geography, deal type — a hard gate.
2. Assess the business quality: market, moat, unit economics, management.
3. Sketch a value-creation thesis and a plausible return range.
4. Identify the two or three risks that could break the deal.
5. Turn each risk into a specific, answerable diligence question.

## Output

A go/no-go recommendation with mandate-fit check, thesis sketch, key risks and a prioritised
diligence question list. See also [[sector-taxonomy]] for consistent sector mapping.


## Presenting results
- Present every result as one or more clear Markdown **tables** — one per section, each with a short heading.
- Keep prose minimal; put the substance in the tables.
- Offer the user a downloadable **PDF** (formatted) and **CSV** (the underlying rows), and generate them when asked.
- Never invent figures. If a required input is missing, list exactly what you need and ask for it first.