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.
106 deals in this cut, 35 of them safe to take a multiple from and 105 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 | 22 | 5.6x | 9.5x | 11.3x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 27 | 1.5x | 2.6x | 4.5x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 56 | 12% | 21% | 31% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 14 | 10% | 15% | 26% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Northern Tier Energy LP 2015-12-21 · Public merger · $15.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Western Refining, Inc. Strategic | Energy | $1.6bn | 3.7x | 0.4x | 9% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Northern Tier Energy LP 2015-12-21 · Take-private · $15.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Nti GP Strategic | Energy | $1.6bn | 3.7x | 0.4x | 9% | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
Fx Energy Inc 2015-10-13 · Public merger · $1.15 a share | ORLEN Upstream Sp. Strategic | Energy | $54m | n.a. | 2.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Markwest Energy Partners L P 2015-07-11 · Public merger · $3.37 a share | Mplx LP Strategic | Energy | $4.8bn | 5.4x | 2.3x | n.a. 5% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Eagle Rock Energy Partners L P 2015-05-21 · Public merger · $25.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; EV / LTM revenue 1723.7x above 60x | Eagle Rock Energy GP Strategic | Energy | $4.0bn | n.a. | 1723.7x | 25% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
LRR Energy, L.P. 2015-04-20 · Public merger · $25.00 a share | Lre GP, LLC Strategic | Energy | $989m | 13.0x | 5.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Regency Energy Partners LP 2015-01-25 · Public merger · $0.32 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. Strategic | Energy | $6.7bn | 12.9x | 1.4x | 13% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Sigma Aldrich Corp 2014-09-22 · Public merger · $140.00 a share | Merck KGaA Strategic | Energy | $16bn | 19.7x | 5.9x | 37% | DEFM14A All cash |
QR Energy, LP 2014-07-23 · Public merger · $21.62 a share | Breitburn Energy Partners LP Strategic | Energy | $1.3bn | 5.3x | 2.6x | 25% | DEFM14A All cash |
Epl Oil & Gas, Inc. 2014-03-12 · Public merger · $39.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Energy XXI Gulf Coast, Inc. Strategic | Energy | $2.1bn | 5.1x | 3.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Energy XXI Ltd 2014-03-12 · Public merger · $39.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | EPL Oil & Gas, Inc. Strategic | Energy | $4.4bn | 5.8x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Enlink Midstream, Inc. 2013-10-21 · Public merger · $2.05 a share | Devon Gas Strategic | Energy | $1.2bn | 11.3x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Nash Finch Co 2013-07-21 · Public merger · $21.65 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Spartan Stores Strategic | Energy | $681m | 17.5x | 0.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
MAPLEBY HOLDINGS MERGER Corp 2013-02-20 · Public merger · $5.25 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Office Depot Strategic | Energy | $197m | 2.0x | 0.0x | 15% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Mcmoran Exploration Co /de/ 2012-12-05 · Public merger · $14.75 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Strategic | Energy | $2.6bn | 22.4x | 6.3x | 74% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Plains Exploration & Production Co 2012-12-05 · Public merger · $50.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Strategic | Energy | $11bn | 7.4x | 4.9x | 39% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Mcmoran Exploration Co /de/ 2012-12-05 · Take-private · $14.75 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Strategic | Energy | $2.6bn | 22.4x | 6.3x | 74% | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
Forestar Petroleum Corp 2012-06-03 · Public merger · $14.50 a share | Longhorn Acquisition, Inc. Strategic | Energy | $143m | 10.5x | n.a. | 34% 36% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Sunoco Inc 2012-04-29 · Public merger · $25.00 a share | Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. Strategic | Energy | $3.5bn | n.a. | 0.1x | 25% | DEFM14A All cash |
Georesources Inc 2012-04-24 · Public merger · $20.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Halcón Resources Corporation Strategic | Energy | $573m | n.a. | 3.7x | 23% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Southwest Oil & Gas Income Fund Ix-A LP 2011-10-28 · Public merger · $117.69 a share | Southwest Royalties, Inc. Strategic | Energy | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Southwest Oil & Gas Income Fund X-A LP 2011-10-28 · Public merger · $94.49 a share | Southwest Royalties, Inc. Strategic | Energy | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Southwest Oil & Gas Income Fund X-B LP 2011-10-28 · Public merger · $252.08 a share | Southwest Royalties, Inc. Strategic | Energy | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Encore Energy Partners LP 2011-07-10 · Public merger · $0.15 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Vanguard Natural Gas, LLC Strategic | Energy | $232m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Allis Chalmers Energy Inc. 2010-08-12 · Public merger · $4.25 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Wellco Sub Company Strategic | Energy | $313m | n.a. | n.a. | 84% | 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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