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I'm not sure what you mean by "notoriously good" - maybe "notorious" isn't the appropriate word here?
In any case, Warburg, Insight, Summit, and TA are all well known for their success in proprietary deal sourcing.
Funds that have particularly robust debt/fof practices get secondary buyout looks on a proprietary basis/can preempt auction processes due to already having data on and exposure to the sponsors holding onto certain assets.
Also to add to the proprietary sourcing list above - insight venture partners probably now falls in this camp now that they have gone PE sized fundraising.
I'm not very helpful on names and would suspect that the more specialized the target set, the more focused the hunter and the more likely to develop proprietary deal flow. Which means the best proprietary deal flow firms are never going to have a big fund with a household name. The big funds, I think, have to play in the big lanes with lots of traffic, where everyone else is hunting. I know several smaller firms who have mostly proprietary deal flow.
- One has such a specific niche that they get calls for those deals, - Another is so specialized that they are usually the last man standing in an auction process because most others back out. For example, imagine a firm who specialized in recovery from small, dry and abandoned offshore oil wells, while others will 'kick the tires' the specialist will walk away with the prize.. - One has a boiler room call center and that works. - Several/many use buyside bankers to source specific deals.
Hope that helps
Additional to the growth funds named above, JMI has a robust sourcing program.
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