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.
129 deals in this cut, 64 of them safe to take a multiple from and 127 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 | 26 | 11.3x | 14.6x | 26.2x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 56 | 1.0x | 2.3x | 4.1x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 51 | 26% | 32% | 48% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 11 | 17% | 26% | 40% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lonestar Resources US Inc. 2021-07-10 · Public merger · $8.40 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Penn Virginia Strategic | Energy | $331m | n.a. | 2.5x | 17% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
J. Alexander's Holdings, Inc. 2021-07-02 · Public merger · $14.00 a share | SPB Hospitality LLC Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $210m | n.a. | 1.1x | 78% | DEFM14A All cash |
Riverview Financial Corp 2021-06-30 · Public merger · $12.90 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Mid Penn Strategic | Financials | $173m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
New Senior Investment Group Inc. 2021-06-28 · Public merger · $9.10 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Ventas, Inc. Strategic | Real Estate | $855m | 4.2x | 2.6x | 32% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Weingarten Realty Investors /Tx/ 2021-06-25 (filed) · Public merger · $2.89 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Kimco Realty Corporation Strategic | Real Estate | $317m | n.a. | 0.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III, Inc. 2021-06-23 · Public merger · $9.33 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Gahr III Strategic | Real Estate | $1.7bn | 5.7x | 1.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Cortland Bancorp Inc 2021-06-22 · Public merger · $28.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Farmers National Banc Corp. Strategic | Financials | $72m | n.a. | 34.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Lydall Inc /de/ 2021-06-21 · Public merger · $62.10 a share | Unifrax Holding Co. Strategic | Industrials | $1.3bn | 21.6x | 1.6x | 87% | DEFM14A All cash |
SharpSpring, Inc. 2021-06-21 · Public merger · $17.10 a share | Constant Contact, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $196m | n.a. | 6.5x | 21% | DEFM14A All cash |
51job, Inc. 2021-06-21 · Take-private · $79.05 a share Board book on file → | 51 Elevate LTD Strategic | Business Services | $3.7bn | 26.3x | 6.5x | 29% 26% to VWAP | 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 |
Sykes Enterprises Inc 2021-06-17 · Public merger · $54.00 a share | Sitel Worldwide Corporation Strategic | Technology | $2.1bn | 14.8x | 1.2x | 31% | DEFM14A All cash |
Vecta Inc. 2021-06-16 · Public merger · $20.25 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM revenue 149.0x above 60x | Mark Silber Strategic | Financials | $15m | n.a. | 149.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Kindred Biosciences, Inc. 2021-06-15 · Public merger · $9.25 a share | Elanco Animal Health Incorporated Strategic | Healthcare | $376m | n.a. | 8.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Macquarie Infrastructure Corp 2021-06-14 · Public merger · $3.83 a share | AMF Hawaii Holdings, LLC, LP Strategic | Energy | $910m | 9.3x | 1.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
QTS Realty Trust, Inc. 2021-06-07 · Public merger · $78.00 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM revenue 405.4x above 60x | QualityTech, LP Strategic | Real Estate | $7.2bn | 26.5x | 405.4x | 21% | DEFM14A All cash |
U.S. Concrete, Inc. 2021-06-06 · Public merger · $74.00 a share | Vulcan Materials Company Strategic | Industrials | $2.0bn | 11.3x | 1.5x | 30% 28% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. 2021-06-04 · Public merger · $11.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | BBAI Ultimate Holdings Strategic | Technology | $626m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Select Bancorp, Inc. 2021-06-01 · Public merger · $44.12 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; EV / LTM revenue 174.5x above 60x | First Bancorp Strategic | Financials | $611m | n.a. | 174.5x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
First Midwest Bancorp Inc 2021-05-30 · Public merger · $21.60 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Old National Bancorp Strategic | Financials | $3.0bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Bowl America Inc 2021-05-27 · Public merger · $8.53 a share | Bowlero Corp. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $12m | n.a. | 1.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Cimarex Energy Co 2021-05-23 · Public merger · $71.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation Strategic | Energy | $8.8bn | n.a. | 5.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Kansas City Southern 2021-05-21 · Public merger · $37.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Canadian National Railway Company Strategic | Industrials | $6.9bn | 5.2x | 2.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Ondas Inc. 2021-05-17 · Public merger · $6.78 a share | American Robotics, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $165m | n.a. | 53.2x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Core-Mark Holding Company, LLC 2021-05-17 · Public merger · $23.88 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Performance Food Group Company Strategic | Energy | $1.4bn | 8.3x | 0.1x | 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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