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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Paragon 28, Inc. 2025-01-28 · Public merger · $13.00 a share | Zimmer, Inc., Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $1.2bn | n.a. | 4.5x | 96% | DEFM14A All cash |
Logility Supply Chain Solutions, Inc 2025-01-24 · Public merger · $14.30 a share | Aptean, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $397m | 43.2x | 3.9x | 26% | DEFM14A All cash |
Redwire Corp 2025-01-20 · Public merger · $1.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Edge Autonomy Ultimate Holdings, LP Strategic | Industrials | $159m | n.a. | 0.5x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Techpoint, Inc. 2025-01-15 · Public merger · $20.00 a share Held out of the premiums: premium of 171%: distressed or misread | ASMedia Technology Inc. Strategic | Technology | $300m | 15.4x | 4.2x | 171% | DEFM14A All cash |
Enfusion, Inc. 2025-01-10 · Public merger · $10.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $305m | 17.0x | 1.5x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. 2025-01-10 · Public merger · $132.00 a share | Johnson & Johnson Strategic | Healthcare | $13bn | n.a. | 19.1x | 60% 50% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
ESSA Bancorp, Inc. 2025-01-09 · Public merger · $21.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | CNB Bank Strategic | Financials | $543m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Akoya Biosciences, Inc. 2025-01-09 · Public merger · $0.38 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Stock Consideration, Inc. Strategic | Industrials | $60m | n.a. | 0.7x | 24% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Accolade, Inc. 2025-01-08 · Public merger · $7.03 a share | Transcarent, Inc. Strategic | Business Services | $388m | n.a. | 0.9x | 110% | DEFM14A All cash |
Paycor Hcm, Inc. 2025-01-07 · Public merger · $22.50 a share | Paychex Inc. Strategic | Technology | $3.9bn | n.a. | 6.1x | n.a. | DEFM14C All cash |
Shutterstock, Inc. 2025-01-06 · Public merger · $9.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Getty Images Holdings, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $498m | 3.2x | 0.5x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Sunlink Health Systems Inc 2025-01-03 · Public merger · $5.00 a share Held out of every statistic: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; premium of 204%: distressed or misread | Restated Agreement Strategic | Healthcare | $27m | n.a. | 0.9x | 204% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. 2024-12-31 (filed) · Take-private · $4.70 a share | Condor Holdings LLC Strategic | Media & Telecom | $2.6bn | 17.3x | 2.3x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Nordstrom Inc 2024-12-22 · Take-private · $24.25 a share | Not named in the filing Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $6.2bn | n.a. | 0.4x | 42% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Vireo Growth Inc. 2024-12-18 · Public merger · $0.52 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA -0.3x outside 1x to 75x | Deep Roots Strategic | Healthcare | -$7m | -0.3x | -0.1x | n.a. | DEFM14C All cash |
Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. 2024-12-18 · Take-private · $0.26 a share Held out of the multiples: equity value 1 vs fee-table value 107; EV / LTM EBITDA 0.4x outside 1x to 75x Board book on file → | Tripadvisor, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $74m | 0.4x | 0.0x | 26% | SC 13E3 All cash |
VOXX International Corp 2024-12-17 · Take-private · $7.50 a share Held out of every statistic: premium of 163%: distressed or misread; equity value 17 vs fee-table value 177 Board book on file → | Gentex Corp Strategic | Industrials | $30m | n.a. | 0.1x | 163% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Shyft Group, Inc. 2024-12-16 · Public merger · $12.51 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Aebi Schmidt Holding AG Strategic | Industrials | $552m | 29.7x | 0.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Kineta, Inc./de 2024-12-11 · Public merger · $1.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Kayak Mergeco, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $10m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Moneylion Inc. 2024-12-10 · Public merger · $82.00 a share | Gen Digital Inc. Strategic | Financials | $798m | 17.7x | 1.6x | 7% | DEFM14A All cash |
Steel Connect, Inc. 2024-12-09 (filed) · Take-private · $11.45 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA -11.4x outside 1x to 75x Board book on file → | Handy & Harman LTD. Strategic | Business Services | -$161m | -11.4x | -0.9x | 12% 14% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Pactiv Evergreen Inc. 2024-12-09 · Public merger · $18.00 a share | Novolex Holdings, LLC Strategic | Materials | $6.6bn | 18.3x | 1.3x | 32% | DEFM14C All cash |
Enterprise Bancorp Inc /Ma/ 2024-12-08 · Public merger · $2.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Rockland Trust Strategic | Financials | -$64m | n.a. | n.a. | 24% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. 2024-12-08 · Public merger · $0.15 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; EV / LTM EBITDA 1.0x outside 1x to 75x | EXT Subsidiary Inc. Strategic | Business Services | $1.4bn | 1.0x | 0.1x | 7% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Brightcove Inc 2024-11-24 · Public merger · $4.45 a share | Bending Spoons US Inc. Strategic | Technology | $174m | 15.3x | 0.9x | 39% | DEFM14A 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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