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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT II, Inc. 2020-02-19 · Public merger · $10.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Pacific Oak SOR II, LLC Strategic | Real Estate | $609m | n.a. | 8.9x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
China Biologic Products Holdings, Inc. 2020-02-19 (filed) · Take-private · $101.00 a share Board book on file → | Centurium Capital Partners 2018, L.P. Strategic | Healthcare | $3.7bn | 19.6x | 7.4x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Continental Materials Corp 2020-02-18 (filed) · Take-private · $9.50 a share | Bee Street Holdings LLC Strategic | Industrials | $16m | n.a. | 0.1x | 2% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Centurium Capital Partners 2018, L.P. 2020-02-14 (filed) · Take-private · $101.00 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value; equity value 3,883 vs fee-table value 259 | 2019B Cayman LTD Strategic | Other | $3.9bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Taubman Centers Inc 2020-02-09 · Public merger · $43.00 a share | Simon Property Group, Inc. Strategic | Real Estate | $2.5bn | n.a. | 3.8x | 9% | DEFM14A All cash |
Taubman Centers Inc 2020-02-09 · Take-private · $52.50 a share Board book on file → | Simon Property Group, Inc. Strategic | Real Estate | $3.1bn | n.a. | 4.7x | 51% | SC 13E3 All cash |
FGL Holdings 2020-02-07 · Public merger · $12.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Fidelity National Financial, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $2.3bn | n.a. | 1.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Forescout Technologies, Inc 2020-02-06 · Public merger · $33.00 a share | Ferrari Group Holdings, L.P. Strategic | Industrials | $1.5bn | n.a. | 4.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Changyou.com Ltd 2020-01-24 · Take-private · $10.80 a share Board book on file → | Changyou Merger Co. LTD Strategic | Technology | $506m | 4.5x | 1.0x | 82% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Franklin Financial Network Inc. 2020-01-21 · Public merger · $2.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | FB Financial Strategic | Financials | -$206m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Pope Resources Ltd Partnership 2020-01-14 · Public merger · $125.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Rayonier Inc. Strategic | Other | $536m | 19.2x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Norwood Financial Corp 2020-01-08 · Public merger · $33.33 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Wayne Bank Strategic | Financials | $257m | n.a. | 47.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Lftd Partners Inc. 2020-01-07 · Public merger · $1.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Acquired Sales Corp. Strategic | Healthcare | -$2m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14C Includes stock |
Habit Restaurants, Inc. 2020-01-05 · Public merger · $14.00 a share | YUM! Brands, Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $332m | 9.9x | 0.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
TiVo Corp 2019-12-18 · Public merger · $23.30 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Xperi Corporation Strategic | Financials | $3.6bn | n.a. | 5.4x | 27% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Xperi Corp 2019-12-18 · Public merger · $23.30 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | TiVo Corporation Strategic | Technology | $1.4bn | 30.3x | 3.6x | 27% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Msb Financial Corp 2019-12-18 · Public merger · $18.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Kearny Financial Corp. Strategic | Financials | $78m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Aevi Genomic Medicine, LLC 2019-12-05 · Public merger · $3.13 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Cerecor Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $201m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
SORL Auto Parts Inc 2019-11-29 · Take-private · $4.72 a share Board book on file → | Ruili Group Co., LTD. Strategic | Industrials | $101m | 2.3x | 0.2x | 39% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Torotel Inc 2019-11-26 · Public merger · $7.77 a share | Standex International Corporation Strategic | Technology | $48m | 22.7x | 2.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Tiffany & Co 2019-11-24 · Public merger · $131.50 a share | Holding Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $16bn | 16.5x | n.a. | 33% | DEFM14A All cash |
Tiffany & Co 2019-11-24 · Public merger · $135.00 a share | LVMH Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton SE Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $17bn | 16.9x | n.a. | 37% | DEFM14A All cash |
Carolina Financial Corp 2019-11-17 · Public merger · $10.57 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | United Bankshares Strategic | Financials | $618m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Kemet Corp 2019-11-11 · Public merger · $27.20 a share | Yageo Corporation Strategic | Technology | $1.7bn | 6.1x | 1.2x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Craft Brew Alliance, Inc. 2019-11-11 · Take-private · $16.50 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA 285.7x outside 1x to 75x | Barrel Subsidiary, Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $343m | 285.7x | 1.8x | n.a. 99% to VWAP | SC 13E3 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.
Company names, tickers and logos are the trademarks of their respective owners and appear here to identify the company whose public figures are being used. L3VLUP is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any company shown, and nothing here is a statement by or about that company. More