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.
59 deals in this cut, 34 of them safe to take a multiple from and 59 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 | 22 | 5.2x | 9.7x | 13.4x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 25 | 0.7x | 1.3x | 1.8x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 36 | 23% | 39% | 50% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 10 | 20% | 40% | 43% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Olaplex Holdings, Inc. 2026-03-26 · Public merger · $2.06 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA 193.5x outside 1x to 75x | Henkel US Operations Corporation Strategic | Materials | $1.4bn | 193.5x | 3.3x | 57% 44% to VWAP | DEFM14C All cash |
DyTb, LLC 2026-03-04 · Public merger · $0.30 a share | USA Rare Earth, Inc. Strategic | Materials | $21m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Kenvue Inc. 2025-11-02 · Public merger · $3.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Vesta Sub I, Inc. Strategic | Materials | $6.3bn | 2.1x | 0.4x | 8% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
AZEK Co Inc. 2025-03-23 · Public merger · $26.45 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | James Hardie Industries plc Strategic | Materials | $4.4bn | 12.4x | 3.0x | 14% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Pactiv Evergreen Inc. 2024-12-09 · Public merger · $18.00 a share | Novolex Holdings, LLC Strategic | Materials | $6.6bn | 18.3x | 1.3x | 32% | DEFM14C All cash |
Piedmont Lithium Inc. 2024-11-18 · Public merger · $0.17 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Sayona Mining Limited Strategic | Materials | -$43m | n.a. | -0.9x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. 2024-04-26 · Public merger · $15.50 a share | Star Holding LLC Strategic | Materials | $1.8bn | 4.9x | 1.2x | 19% | DEFM14A All cash |
Encore Wire Corp 2024-04-14 · Public merger · $290.00 a share | Prysmian S.p.A. Strategic | Materials | $4.0bn | 9.6x | 1.6x | 11% 20% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Telix Qsam Inc. 2024-02-07 · Public merger · $9.37 a share | Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited ACN 616 620 369 Strategic | Materials | $32m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14C All cash |
Haynes International Inc 2024-02-04 · Public merger · $61.00 a share | North American Stainless, Inc. Strategic | Materials | $766m | 10.2x | 1.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
United States Steel Corp 2023-12-18 · Public merger · $55.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Nippon Steel North America, Inc. Strategic | Materials | $13bn | 6.4x | 0.7x | 142% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Green Plains Partners LP 2023-09-16 · Take-private · $2.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; equity value 46 vs fee-table value 164 Board book on file → | GPLP Holdings Inc. Strategic | Materials | $88m | 1.8x | 1.1x | 20% 21% to VWAP | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
Sisecam Resources LP 2023-02-01 · Take-private · $25.00 a share | Sisecam Resource Partners LLC Strategic | Materials | $480m | 3.0x | 0.7x | 40% 40% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. 2022-09-29 (filed) · Take-private · $43.00 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value Board book on file → | 46117 Yukon Inc. Strategic | Materials | $8.7bn | n.a. | n.a. | 67% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Resolute Forest Products Inc. 2022-07-05 · Public merger · $20.50 a share | Domtar Corporation Strategic | Materials | $1.5bn | n.a. | 0.4x | 70% | DEFM14A All cash |
Ocean Bio Chem Inc 2022-06-21 · Public merger · $13.08 a share | OneWater Marine Inc. Strategic | Materials | $122m | 10.6x | 1.9x | 121% | DEFM14C All cash |
Pro Farm Group, Inc. 2022-03-16 · Public merger · $0.35 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp. Strategic | Materials | $76m | n.a. | 1.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Renewable Energy Group, Inc. 2022-02-27 · Public merger · $61.50 a share | Chevron Corporation Strategic | Materials | $2.8bn | 9.7x | 1.0x | 32% | DEFM14A All cash |
Billerud Americas Corp 2021-12-19 · Public merger · $27.00 a share | BillerudKorsnäs Inc. Strategic | Materials | $624m | 14.5x | 0.5x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Corvus Gold Inc. 2021-10-14 (filed) · Take-private · $4.10 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value Board book on file → | Anglogold Ashanti (U.S.A.) Exploration Inc. Strategic | Materials | $521m | n.a. | n.a. | 26% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Raven Industries Inc 2021-06-20 · Public merger · $58.00 a share | CNH Industrial N.V. Strategic | Materials | $2.1bn | 48.7x | 5.5x | 50% | DEFM14A All cash |
W R Grace & Co 2021-04-26 · Take-private · $70.00 a share Board book on file → | Not named in the filing Strategic | Materials | $6.3bn | n.a. | 3.6x | 59% 54% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
KushCo Holdings, Inc. 2021-03-31 · Public merger · $1.65 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Inc. Strategic | Materials | $183m | n.a. | 1.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Heron Lake BioEnergy, LLC 2021-03-24 · Take-private · $0.36 a share Board book on file → | Granite Falls Energy, LLC Strategic | Materials | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co 2021-02-22 · Public merger · $41.75 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Strategic | Materials | $1.8bn | 4.6x | 0.7x | 24% | 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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