The deal tape
A precedent transactions set answers one question: what did somebody actually pay for a company like this one. Every row here is a US public target that filed a merger proxy or a going-private statement since 2020, with the offer per share, the premium to the unaffected price and the enterprise value multiples read from the filing itself rather than bought from a feed. Choose a sector, an industry code and a size band, and the quartiles above the list are the answer for that cut.
What it is not. Private-company deals, non-US targets and any transaction where no proxy was required leave nothing to read, so none of them are here. Neither are minority stakes or asset sales. Where a cross-check failed, the row still appears and says why, and it is held out of every median and quartile so one bad reading cannot move a number you would quote.
159 deals in this cut, 96 of them safe to take a multiple from and 157 safe to take a premium from. Enterprise value is stated where a balance sheet and a share count could be read at the period end before announcement.
What this cut was bought at
Each measure counts the readings that survive its own cross-checks. Fewer than 4 is a coincidence, not a market.
| Measure | Deals | 25th | Median | 75th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / LTM EBITDA | 51 | 8.4x | 12.8x | 22.3x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 81 | 0.8x | 1.3x | 2.9x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 99 | 19% | 36% | 50% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 32 | 27% | 35% | 48% |
Read the EBITDA multiple against the revenue multiple before you use either. Where they disagree sharply the target was priced on growth rather than earnings, and the EBITDA line is the one that will not survive a second question.
| Target | Acquirer | Industry | EV | EV / EBITDA | EV / revenue | Premium | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CAI International, Inc. 2021-06-17 · Public merger · $56.00 a share | Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc. Financial sponsor | Business Services | $2.7bn | 9.3x | 10.2x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Gi Dynamics, Inc. 2021-06-15 (filed) · Take-private · $0.06 a share | Crystal Amber Fund LTD Financial sponsor | Healthcare | $8m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Brookfield Property Partners L.P. 2021-04-26 (filed) · Take-private · $18.17 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value Board book on file → | Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Financial sponsor | Real Estate | $7.9bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
GasLog Ltd. 2021-02-21 · Take-private · $5.80 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value Board book on file → | Blenheim Holdings LTD Financial sponsor | Industrials | $552m | n.a. | n.a. | 17% 30% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Tribune Publishing Co 2021-02-16 · Take-private · $17.25 a share Board book on file → | Agof Master GP, LTD. Financial sponsor | Media & Telecom | $538m | n.a. | 0.7x | 45% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Ruhnn Holding Ltd 2021-02-03 · Take-private · $3.50 a share Held out of the multiples: equity value 1,446 vs fee-table value 71 Board book on file → | Beijing Junlian Yitong Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) Financial sponsor | Consumer & Retail | $1.3bn | n.a. | 7.3x | 14% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Perspecta Inc. 2021-01-27 · Take-private · $29.35 a share Board book on file → | Fund Management, L.L.C. Financial sponsor | Technology | $6.7bn | n.a. | 1.5x | 50% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Cardtronics plc 2021-01-07 (filed) · Take-private · $35.00 a share Board book on file → | Apollo Global Management, Inc. Financial sponsor | Business Services | $2.2bn | 9.9x | 2.0x | 35% 60% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Harvest Capital Credit Corp 2020-12-23 · Public merger · $3.55 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Sierra Crest Investment Management LLC Financial sponsor | Other | $21m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Sanchez Midstream Partners LP 2020-12-11 (filed) · Take-private · $0.62 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Stonepeak Catarina Upper Holdings LLC Financial sponsor | Energy | $12m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp 2020-12-06 · Public merger · $0.61 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Ready Capital Financial sponsor | Real Estate | $23m | n.a. | n.a. | 30% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Waddell & Reed Financial Inc 2020-12-02 · Public merger · $25.00 a share | Macquarie Management Holdings, Inc. Financial sponsor | Financials | $819m | n.a. | 0.8x | 48% | DEFM14A All cash |
Watford Holdings Ltd. 2020-10-09 · Take-private · $35.00 a share Board book on file → | Arch Capital Group LTD. Financial sponsor | Financials | $501m | n.a. | 0.8x | 49% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Transatlantic Petroleum Ltd. 2020-08-07 · Take-private · $0.13 a share | Dalea Management, LLC Financial sponsor | Energy | $0m | n.a. | 0.0x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Advanced Disposal Services, Inc. 2020-07-24 (filed) · Public merger · $30.30 a share | Waste Management Financial sponsor | Utilities | $4.6bn | 12.3x | 2.9x | 12% | DEFM14A All cash |
Sky Solar Holdings, Ltd. 2020-07-06 (filed) · Take-private · $0.30 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Square Ltd Financial sponsor | Utilities | $126m | n.a. | n.a. | 81% 109% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Garrison Capital Inc. 2020-06-24 · Public merger · $1.19 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Sierra Crest Investment Management LLC Financial sponsor | Other | $53m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
58.com Inc. 2020-06-15 · Take-private · $28.00 a share | Gap (Bermuda) LTD Financial sponsor | Technology | $6.3bn | 13.6x | 2.8x | 20% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Bitauto Holdings Ltd 2020-06-12 · Take-private · $16.00 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Cox Automotive Global Investments, Inc. Financial sponsor | Technology | $1.1bn | n.a. | n.a. | 16% | SC 13E3 All cash |
TearLab Corp 2020-05-11 · Public merger · $0.06 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA 95.9x outside 1x to 75x | Accelmed Partners II LP Financial sponsor | Healthcare | $77m | 95.9x | 3.5x | n.a. | DEFM14C All cash |
Jumei International Holding Ltd 2020-02-25 · Take-private · $2.00 a share Held out of the multiples: equity value 1 vs fee-table value 128 Board book on file → | Jumei Investment Holding LTD Financial sponsor | Consumer & Retail | -$341m | n.a. | -0.6x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Tallgrass Energy, LP 2019-12-16 · Take-private · $22.45 a share Board book on file → | Prairie Eci Acquiror LP Financial sponsor | Utilities | $7.5bn | 15.0x | 8.7x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. 2019-09-30 · Take-private · $1.55 a share | Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Financial sponsor | Industrials | $3.5bn | 7.3x | 2.5x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Alcentra Capital Corp 2019-08-12 · Public merger · $3.18 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Crescent Capital BDC Financial sponsor | Other | $41m | n.a. | n.a. | 36% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Crescent Capital BDC, Inc. 2019-08-12 · Public merger · $3.18 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Alcentra Capital Financial sponsor | Other | $41m | n.a. | n.a. | 36% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
How to use a set like this
Cut to the narrowest set that still holds eight or ten deals, then quote the range rather than the median. An interviewer who asks where software takes out will accept a spread and press on a single number, because the single number implies a precision the set does not have. Say which deals sit at each end and why: the top of a range is usually a contested auction or a strategic buyer with synergies, the bottom a controlling holder buying in the minority.
Premiums move with the reference price, not only with the deal. A bidder quotes the period that flatters the offer, so read the premium to the unaffected close beside the premium to the thirty-day average and notice when they diverge.
What each column means
- Enterprise value.
- Offer per share times shares outstanding, plus net debt at the last balance sheet before the merger agreement. It is blank where either piece was missing, and those rows are in the “not computed” band rather than in a size they never earned.
- Premium.
- The offer against the unaffected price, which is the last close before the deal became known. Where the filing states a premium to the thirty-day volume-weighted average, that is shown next to it.
- Deal type.
- A take-private is bought by an affiliate, which is what triggers the Schedule 13E-3 and the fuller disclosure that comes with it. A public merger is an arm’s-length buyer, disclosed through the merger proxy.
- In doubt.
- A cross-check the reading could not satisfy: an equity value far from the fee-table figure, a multiple outside any sane band, or consideration that is partly stock so the per-share cash figure is not the price. The row stays visible, and it is set aside only for the measures the doubt reaches. A cash-and-stock deal cannot price a multiple and still states a premium the filing itself computed, so it counts in one and not the other.
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