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.
316 deals in this cut, 87 of them safe to take a multiple from and 313 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 | 11 | 12.4x | 17.7x | 24.5x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 54 | 0.7x | 1.3x | 3.0x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 108 | 15% | 26% | 39% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 6 | 13% | 17% | 28% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cordia Bancorp Inc 2016-07-08 (filed) · Public merger · $5.15 a share | Bank of Virginia Strategic | Financials | -$56m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Privatebancorp, Inc 2016-06-29 · Public merger · $24.20 a share | Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Strategic | Financials | $2.7bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Privatebancorp, Inc 2016-06-29 · Public merger · $18.80 a share | Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Strategic | Financials | $2.3bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Suffolk Bancorp 2016-06-26 · Public merger · $33.55 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | People’s United Financial Strategic | Financials | $144m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Lake Sunapee Bank Group 2016-05-05 · Public merger · $17.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Bar Harbor Bankshares Strategic | Financials | $104m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Your Community Bankshares, Inc. 2016-05-03 · Public merger · $7.70 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Wesbanco Bank, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $224m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
First Clover Leaf Financial Corp. 2016-04-26 · Public merger · $12.87 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | First Mid Strategic | Financials | $52m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Chicopee Bancorp, Inc. 2016-04-04 · Public merger · $20.52 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Westfield Financial, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $72m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
LaPorte Bancorp, Inc. 2016-03-10 · Public merger · $17.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Horizon Bancorp Strategic | Financials | $98m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
1st Century Bancshares, Inc. 2016-03-10 · Public merger · $11.22 a share | Midland Financial Co. Strategic | Financials | $61m | n.a. | n.a. | 36% 4% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
First Farmers & Merchants Corp 2016-02-16 · Take-private · $30.25 a share | Merchants Corporation Strategic | Financials | $82m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Firstmerit Corp /Oh/ 2016-01-25 · Public merger · $5.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Huntington Bancshares Incorporated Strategic | Financials | $870m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Talmer Bancorp, Inc. 2016-01-25 · Public merger · $1.61 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Chemical Financial Corporation Strategic | Financials | $920m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Anchor Bancorp Wisconsin Inc 2016-01-11 · Public merger · $48.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Old National Bancorp Strategic | Financials | $49m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Cape Bancorp, Inc. 2016-01-05 · Public merger · $2.25 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | OceanFirst Financial Corp. Strategic | Financials | $121m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Fox Chase Bancorp Inc 2015-12-08 · Public merger · $21.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania Strategic | Financials | $296m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Hf Financial Corp 2015-11-30 · Public merger · $19.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Great Western Bancorp, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $119m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
CommunityOne Bancorp 2015-11-22 · Public merger · $14.25 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Capital Bank Financial Corp. Strategic | Financials | $318m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
C1 Financial, Inc. 2015-11-09 · Public merger · $52.42 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $669m | n.a. | n.a. | 21% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Fidelity & Guaranty Life 2015-11-08 · Public merger · $26.80 a share | Anbang Insurance Group Co., Ltd. Strategic | Financials | $1.4bn | n.a. | 1.4x | n.a. | DEFM14C All cash |
Astoria Financial Corp 2015-10-28 · Public merger · $0.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | New York Community Bancorp, Inc. Strategic | Financials | -$146m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
First Capital Bancorp, Inc. 2015-09-30 · Public merger · $5.54 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Park Sterling Corporation Strategic | Financials | $52m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Jacksonville Bancorp Inc /Fl/ 2015-09-30 · Public merger · $16.50 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 | Ameris Bancorp Strategic | Financials | $83m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Yueda Digital Holding 2015-09-29 · Take-private · $3.00 a share | AirMedia Holdings Ltd. Strategic | Financials | $278m | n.a. | 3.7x | 71% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Eureka Financial Corp. 2015-09-03 · Public merger · $28.50 a share | NexTier, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $26m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | 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.
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