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.
91 deals in this cut, 44 of them safe to take a multiple from and 89 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 | 14 | 12.2x | 18.3x | 32.8x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 37 | 0.8x | 1.6x | 2.9x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 53 | 19% | 35% | 63% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 10 | 22% | 42% | 57% |
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.
No cut here holds enough clean readings to quote.
| Target | Acquirer | Industry | EV | EV / EBITDA | EV / revenue | Premium | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genetron Holdings Ltd 2023-10-11 · Take-private · $0.27 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value Board book on file → | Not named in the filing Strategic | Healthcare | $123m | n.a. | n.a. | 15% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Startek, Inc. 2023-10-10 · Take-private · $4.30 a share Board book on file → | CSP Management II LTD. Strategic | Business Services | $204m | n.a. | 1.2x | 32% 50% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. 2023-10-08 · Public merger · $58.00 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM revenue 63.4x above 60x | Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Strategic | Healthcare | $2.4bn | n.a. | 63.4x | 35% | DEFM14A All cash |
SP Plus Corp 2023-10-04 · Public merger · $54.00 a share | Metropolis Technologies, Inc. Strategic | Other | $1.4bn | 12.1x | 0.8x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
LiveVox Holdings, Inc. 2023-10-03 · Public merger · $3.74 a share | Inc. Strategic | Technology | $297m | n.a. | 2.1x | 14% | DEFM14C All cash |
Applied Molecular Transport Inc. 2023-09-21 · Public merger · $1.76 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Cyclo Therapeutics, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $47m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Splunk Inc 2023-09-20 · Public merger · $157.00 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA 353.8x outside 1x to 75x | Cisco Systems, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $25bn | 353.8x | 6.4x | 29% | DEFM14A All cash |
Cambridge Bancorp 2023-09-19 · Public merger · $62.30 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Eastern Bankshares, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $455m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | 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 |
Avantax, Inc. 2023-09-09 · Public merger · $26.00 a share | Aretec Group, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $1.1bn | n.a. | 2.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Acer Therapeutics Inc. 2023-08-30 · Public merger · $2.81 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $67m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Hersha Hospitality Trust 2023-08-27 · Public merger · $10.00 a share | Hersha Hospitality Limited Partnership Strategic | Real Estate | $259m | 3.3x | 0.7x | 60% | DEFM14A All cash |
Earthstone Energy Inc 2023-08-21 · Public merger · $18.64 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Permian Resources Corporation Strategic | Energy | $3.6bn | 2.8x | 2.0x | 4% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Holly Energy Partners LP 2023-08-15 · Take-private · $4.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; equity value 506 vs fee-table value 1,529 Board book on file → | Hep Logistics Holdings, L.P. Strategic | Energy | $2.0bn | 5.9x | 3.5x | 40% | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
Capri Holdings Ltd 2023-08-10 · Public merger · $57.00 a share | Tapestry, Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $8.3bn | n.a. | 1.5x | n.a. 59% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
SciPlay Corp 2023-08-08 · Take-private · $22.95 a share Board book on file → | Light & Wonder International, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $2.0bn | 10.5x | 2.7x | 48% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Sovos Brands, Inc. 2023-08-07 · Public merger · $23.00 a share | Campbell Soup Company Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $2.6bn | 46.1x | 2.8x | 57% | DEFM14A All cash |
EQRx, Inc. 2023-07-31 · Public merger · $25.71 a share | Revolution Medicines Strategic | Healthcare | $11bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Zhangmen Education Inc. 2023-07-28 · Take-private · $0.56 a share Held out of every statistic: premium of 178%: distressed or misread; equity value 807 vs fee-table value 9 Board book on file → | Summit Lustre LTD Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $807m | n.a. | n.a. | 178% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc 2023-07-28 · Public merger · $172.50 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM revenue 235.6x above 60x | Biogen Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $5.5bn | n.a. | 235.6x | 63% | DEFM14A All cash |
Pacwest Bancorp 2023-07-25 · Public merger · $12.30 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Banc of California, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $1.1bn | n.a. | 34.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Denbury Inc 2023-07-13 · Public merger · $89.45 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Exxon Mobil Corporation Strategic | Energy | $4.6bn | n.a. | 3.1x | 2% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Kaleyra, Inc. 2023-06-28 · Public merger · $7.25 a share | Tata Communications Limited Strategic | Technology | $43m | n.a. | 0.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Amedisys Inc 2023-06-26 · Public merger · $101.00 a share | UnitedHealth Group Incorporated Strategic | Healthcare | $3.6bn | 18.4x | 1.6x | 29% | DEFM14A All cash |
Quotient Technology Inc. 2023-06-20 · Public merger · $4.00 a share | CB Neptune Holdings, LLC Strategic | Business Services | $399m | n.a. | 1.5x | 19% | DEFM14A All cash |
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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