I've definitely seen sector breakdowns in GSB/IESE studies of the businesses ultimately acquired by search funds, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a breakdown of the proportion of funds that set out with a specific sector focus, versus funds that are broadly sector agnostic at the outset? (usually geographically focused, more-so than sector focused).

Either anecdotally or quantitatively, does anyone have observations about the relative frequency of each approach? (explicitly, strategically, from the outset i.e. in the fundraising stage, not just tactically during the search itself).