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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Monsanto Co /New/ 2016-09-14 · Public merger · $128.00 a share | Bayer Aktiengesellschaft Strategic | Materials | $63bn | 20.2x | 4.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Intersil Corp/de 2016-09-12 · Public merger · $22.50 a share | Renesas Electronics Corporation Strategic | Technology | $2.8bn | 42.8x | 5.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
American Farmland Co 2016-09-12 · Public merger · $8.23 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Fpi Op Strategic | Real Estate | $137m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Apigee Corp 2016-09-07 · Public merger · $17.40 a share | Google Inc. Strategic | Technology | $455m | n.a. | 5.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Federal-Mogul Holdings LLC 2016-09-06 · Take-private · $9.25 a share | American Entertainment Properties Corp. Strategic | Industrials | $4.4bn | 10.4x | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
American Realty Capital - Retail Centers of America, Inc. 2016-09-06 · Public merger · $0.95 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | American Finance Operating Partnership, L.P. Strategic | Real Estate | $177m | 2.9x | 1.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Spectra Energy Corp. 2016-09-05 · Public merger · $3.82 a share | Enbridge Inc. Strategic | Utilities | $16bn | 7.5x | 3.2x | 7% | DEFM14A All cash |
Cepheid 2016-09-02 · Public merger · $53.00 a share | Danaher Corporation Strategic | Industrials | $3.8bn | n.a. | 6.7x | 55% | DEFM14A All cash |
Interactive Intelligence Group, Inc. 2016-08-30 · Public merger · $60.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $1.2bn | n.a. | 2.9x | 36% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
USMD Holdings, Inc. 2016-08-29 · Public merger · $22.34 a share | WellMed Medical Management, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $269m | n.a. | 0.8x | 89% | DEFM14C All cash |
Aep Industries Inc 2016-08-24 · Public merger · $110.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Berry Plastics Group, Inc. Strategic | Materials | $710m | 6.7x | 0.7x | 42% 1% to VWAP | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Commercial Bancshares Inc \Oh\ 2016-08-23 · Public merger · $51.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | First Defiance Financial Corp. Strategic | Financials | $56m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
G&K Services LLC 2016-08-15 · Public merger · $97.50 a share | Cintas Corporation Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $2.1bn | 13.4x | 2.2x | 20% 7% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Silicon Graphics International Corp 2016-08-11 · Public merger · $7.75 a share | Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Strategic | Industrials | $256m | 25.9x | 0.5x | 38% | DEFM14A All cash |
TIAA FSB Holdings, Inc. 2016-08-07 · Public merger · $19.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Teachers Insurance Strategic | Financials | $1.8bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Netsuite Inc 2016-07-28 · Take-private · $109.00 a share | Support Agreements Strategic | Technology | $8.4bn | n.a. | 9.9x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Bbx Capital Corp 2016-07-27 · Public merger · $20.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | BFC Financial Corporation Strategic | Real Estate | -$93m | n.a. | -0.8x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Bbx Capital Corp 2016-07-27 · Take-private · $20.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | BFC Financial Corproation Strategic | Real Estate | $227m | n.a. | 1.9x | n.a. | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
Linear Technology Corp /Ca/ 2016-07-26 · Public merger · $46.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Analog Devices, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $9.6bn | 13.9x | 6.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Epiq Systems Inc 2016-07-26 · Public merger · $16.50 a share | Document Technologies, LLC Strategic | Technology | $1.0bn | n.a. | 1.8x | 15% | DEFM14A All cash |
National Interstate CORP 2016-07-25 · Public merger · $32.00 a share | Great American Insurance Company Strategic | Financials | $565m | n.a. | 0.9x | 5% | DEFM14A All cash |
Carmike Cinemas Inc 2016-07-24 · Public merger · $33.06 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. Strategic | Media & Telecom | $927m | 8.3x | 1.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Joy Global Inc 2016-07-21 · Public merger · $28.30 a share | Komatsu America Corp. Strategic | Industrials | $3.6bn | n.a. | 1.3x | 20% | DEFM14A All cash |
YADKIN FINANCIAL Corp 2016-07-20 · Public merger · $28.47 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | First National Bank of Pennsylvania Strategic | Financials | $2.4bn | n.a. | n.a. | 5% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Golden Enterprises Inc 2016-07-18 · Public merger · $12.00 a share | Utz Quality Foods, Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $134m | 15.2x | 1.0x | 60% 6% to VWAP | DEFM14C 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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