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.
104 deals in this cut, 50 of them safe to take a multiple from and 99 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 | 19 | 12.0x | 17.8x | 26.6x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 43 | 0.9x | 2.0x | 4.4x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 58 | 22% | 40% | 58% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 15 | 23% | 32% | 45% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TrueCar, Inc. 2025-10-14 · Public merger · $2.55 a share | Fair Holdings, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $122m | n.a. | 0.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Bright Scholar Education Holdings Ltd 2025-10-13 · Take-private · $0.57 a share Board book on file → | Excellence Education Investment LTD Strategic | Consumer & Retail | -$1m | n.a. | -0.0x | 47% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Akero Therapeutics, Inc. 2025-10-09 · Public merger · $54.00 a share | Novo Nordisk A/S Strategic | Healthcare | $3.6bn | n.a. | n.a. | 42% | DEFM14A All cash |
Comerica Inc 2025-10-05 · Public merger · $82.88 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Fifth Third Bancorp Strategic | Financials | $11bn | n.a. | 14.8x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Veeco Instruments Inc 2025-09-30 · Public merger · $10.15 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Axcelis Technologies, Inc. Strategic | Industrials | $467m | 7.5x | 0.7x | 15% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
RTB Digital, Inc. 2025-09-28 · Public merger · $130.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | RYVYL, Inc. Strategic | Business Services | $4.1bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Electronic Arts Inc. 2025-09-28 · Public merger · $210.00 a share | Oak-Eagle AcquireCo, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $51bn | 28.6x | n.a. | 25% 22% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Semler Scientific, Inc. 2025-09-22 · Public merger · $80.71 a share Held out of every statistic: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; premium of 157%: distressed or misread | Strive, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $1.2bn | n.a. | 27.5x | 157% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Metsera, Inc. 2025-09-21 · Public merger · $47.50 a share | Pfizer Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $4.5bn | n.a. | n.a. | 43% | DEFM14A All cash |
TELUS International (Cda) Inc. 2025-09-18 (filed) · Take-private · $4.50 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 | Technology | $501m | n.a. | n.a. | 52% 63% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Berry Corp (bry) 2025-09-14 · Public merger · $3.81 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | California Resources Corporation Strategic | Energy | $686m | n.a. | 1.0x | 15% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Vimeo, Inc. 2025-09-10 · Public merger · $7.85 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA -35.3x outside 1x to 75x | Bending Spoons US Inc. Strategic | Technology | -$229m | -35.3x | -0.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Evofem Biosciences, Inc. 2025-09-08 (filed) · Public merger · $116.75 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; EV / LTM revenue 74.5x above 60x | Adifem, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $1.3bn | n.a. | 74.5x | 65% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Sumisho Air Lease Corp 2025-09-01 · Public merger · $65.00 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM revenue 95.3x above 60x | Air Lease Corporation Strategic | Business Services | $27bn | n.a. | 95.3x | 7% 14% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Monogram Technologies Inc. 2025-08-27 · Public merger · $4.00 a share | Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $150m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Vital Energy, Inc. 2025-08-24 · Public merger · $18.95 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Crescent Energy Company Strategic | Energy | $3.0bn | 24.7x | 1.6x | n.a. 15% to VWAP | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Verint Systems Inc 2025-08-24 · Public merger · $20.50 a share | Calabrio, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $1.5bn | 11.6x | 1.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Tegna Inc 2025-08-18 · Public merger · $22.00 a share | Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Strategic | Media & Telecom | $5.9bn | n.a. | 1.9x | 44% | DEFM14A All cash |
CFSB Bancorp, Inc. /MA/ 2025-08-15 (filed) · Public merger · $14.25 a share | Hometown Financial Group Strategic | Financials | $69m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Hanesbrands Inc. 2025-08-13 · Public merger · $0.80 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Gildan Activewear Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $2.4bn | 5.0x | 0.7x | 42% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Sapiens International Corp N V 2025-08-12 · Take-private · $43.50 a share Board book on file → | Ai Global Investments (UK) PCC LTD Strategic | Technology | $2.3bn | 25.0x | 4.2x | 64% | SC 13E3 All cash |
International Money Express, Inc. 2025-08-10 · Public merger · $16.00 a share | The Western Union Company Strategic | Business Services | $444m | 4.4x | 0.7x | 72% | DEFM14A All cash |
Aris Water Solutions, Inc. 2025-08-06 · Public merger · $25.00 a share | Arrakis Holdings Strategic | Energy | $1.9bn | 12.7x | 4.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Staar Surgical Co 2025-08-04 · Public merger · $28.00 a share | Alcon Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $1.2bn | n.a. | 5.3x | 51% | DEFM14A All cash |
Steelcase Inc 2025-08-03 · Public merger · $7.20 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | HNI Corporation Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $1.0bn | 4.3x | 0.3x | 13% | 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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