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.
1,773 deals in this cut, 891 of them safe to take a multiple from and 1,746 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 | 470 | 8.2x | 12.7x | 19.1x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 697 | 0.9x | 1.9x | 3.6x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 902 | 19% | 31% | 49% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 156 | 15% | 31% | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
STR Sub Inc. 2022-09-06 · Public merger · $6.25 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Sitio Royalties Operating Partnership, LP Strategic | Energy | $684m | n.a. | 3.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Channeladvisor Corp 2022-09-04 · Public merger · $23.10 a share | CommerceHub, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $579m | 26.5x | 3.4x | 57% | DEFM14A All cash |
Signify Health, Inc. 2022-09-02 · Public merger · $30.50 a share | CVS Pharmacy, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $5.3bn | n.a. | 6.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc 2022-08-22 · Public merger · $15.25 a share | Alcon Research, LLC Strategic | Healthcare | $568m | n.a. | 2.7x | 39% | DEFM14A All cash |
Safehold Inc. /MD 2022-08-10 · Public merger · $25.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | SpinCo owns [•] shares of Company Common Stock; WHEREAS Strategic | Real Estate | $4.8bn | 54.6x | 21.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Avalara, Inc. 2022-08-08 · Public merger · $93.50 a share | Lava Intermediate, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $6.8bn | n.a. | 8.6x | 27% | DEFM14A All cash |
Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. 2022-08-07 · Public merger · $68.50 a share | Pfizer Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $4.4bn | n.a. | 18.5x | 102% 110% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Cyberoptics Corp 2022-08-07 · Public merger · $54.00 a share | Nordson Corporation Strategic | Industrials | $380m | 18.7x | 3.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Irobot Corp 2022-08-04 · Public merger · $51.75 a share | Amazon.com, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $1.3bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. 25% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Irobot Corp 2022-08-04 · Public merger · $61.00 a share | Amazon.com, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $1.6bn | n.a. | n.a. | 22% 48% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Ping Identity Holding Corp. 2022-08-02 · Public merger · $28.50 a share | Project Polaris Holdings, LP Strategic | Technology | $2.5bn | n.a. | 8.2x | 63% | DEFM14A All cash |
EVO Payments, Inc. 2022-08-01 · Public merger · $34.00 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA 0.9x outside 1x to 75x | Global Payments Inc. Strategic | Business Services | $149m | 0.9x | 0.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Cowen Inc. 2022-08-01 · Public merger · $39.00 a share | The Toronto-Dominion Bank Strategic | Financials | $146m | n.a. | 0.1x | 49% | DEFM14A All cash |
Spirit Aviation Holdings, Inc. 2022-07-28 · Public merger · $33.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | JetBlue Airways Corporation Strategic | Other | $5.4bn | n.a. | 1.3x | 38% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Realnetworks Inc 2022-07-27 · Take-private · $0.73 a share Board book on file → | GH Sliver, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $20m | n.a. | 0.4x | 55% | SC 13E3 All cash |
PBF Logistics LP 2022-07-27 · Take-private · $9.25 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price Board book on file → | PBF Energy Inc. Strategic | Energy | $1.1bn | 4.7x | 3.1x | 57% 14% to VWAP | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
Shell Midstream Partners, L.P. 2022-07-25 · Take-private · $15.85 a share Board book on file → | Shell USA, Inc. Strategic | Energy | $5.9bn | 22.1x | 11.9x | n.a. 25% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Zymergen Inc. 2022-07-24 · Public merger · $2.68 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. Strategic | Business Services | $63m | n.a. | 4.3x | 34% 71% to VWAP | DEFM14A Includes stock |
1Life Healthcare Inc 2022-07-20 · Public merger · $18.00 a share | Amazon.com, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $3.1bn | n.a. | 3.5x | 83% | DEFM14A All cash |
GLORY STAR NEW MEDIA GROUP HOLDINGS Ltd 2022-07-11 · Take-private · $1.55 a share Board book on file → | Cheers Inc. Strategic | Technology | $61m | n.a. | 0.4x | 76% 46% to VWAP | 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 |
Tyme Technologies, Inc. 2022-07-03 · Public merger · $2.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $353m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Usa Truck Inc 2022-06-23 · Public merger · $31.72 a share | Schenker, Inc. Strategic | Industrials | $360m | 4.3x | 0.5x | n.a. | 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 |
U.S. Well Services Holdings, LLC 2022-06-21 · Public merger · $1.19 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | ProFrac LLC Strategic | Energy | $238m | n.a. | 1.1x | n.a. | 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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