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.
229 deals in this cut, 140 of them safe to take a multiple from and 226 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 | 73 | 10.5x | 16.3x | 27.8x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 118 | 0.9x | 1.9x | 3.7x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 135 | 19% | 32% | 50% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 27 | 15% | 26% | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Perfect World Co., Ltd. 2015-04-26 · Take-private · $4.04 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA -3.8x outside 1x to 75x | Perfect Peony Holding Company Limited Strategic | Business Services | -$341m | -3.8x | -0.6x | 28% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Igate Corp 2015-04-25 · Public merger · $48.00 a share | Sa Strategic | Technology | $3.7bn | 14.7x | 2.9x | 17% | DEFM14C All cash |
ChyronHego Corp 2014-11-17 · Public merger · $2.82 a share | Vector CH Holdings, L.P. Strategic | Business Services | $110m | n.a. | 1.9x | 4% | DEFM14A All cash |
ChyronHego Corp 2014-11-17 · Take-private · $2.82 a share | Vector CH Holdings, L.P. Strategic | Business Services | $110m | n.a. | 1.9x | 4% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Tibco Software Inc 2014-09-27 · Public merger · $24.00 a share | Balboa Intermediate Holdings, LLC Strategic | Technology | $3.4bn | 24.1x | 3.2x | 24% | DEFM14A All cash |
Concur Technologies Inc 2014-09-18 · Public merger · $129.00 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA 1767.9x outside 1x to 75x | SAP America, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $6.5bn | 1767.9x | 9.8x | 20% | DEFM14A All cash |
Conversant, Inc. 2014-09-11 · Public merger · $35.00 a share | Alliance Data Systems Corporation Strategic | Business Services | $2.2bn | 11.4x | 4.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Bally Technologies, Inc. 2014-08-01 · Public merger · $83.30 a share | Scientific Games Corporation Strategic | Technology | $5.1bn | 14.2x | 4.2x | 38% | DEFM14A All cash |
iSoftStone Holdings Ltd 2014-04-18 · Take-private · $0.57 a share | New iSoftStone Holdings Limited Strategic | Technology | $351m | 17.1x | 0.8x | 18% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Food Technology Service Inc 2013-12-05 · Public merger · $7.23 a share | Sterigenics U.S., LLC Strategic | Business Services | $17m | 8.1x | 4.0x | 28% | DEFM14A All cash |
Pactera Technology International Ltd. 2013-10-17 · Take-private · $7.30 a share | Not named in the filing Strategic | Technology | $501m | 64.2x | 1.4x | 39% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Camelot Information Systems Inc. 2013-09-18 · Take-private · $0.51 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Camelot Employee Scheme Inc. Strategic | Technology | $95m | n.a. | n.a. | 37% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Pageflex Inc. 2013-08-20 · Public merger · $0.09 a share Held out of the premiums: premium of 203%: distressed or misread | Marlborough Software Development Holdings, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $0m | n.a. | 0.0x | 203% | DEFM14A All cash |
Digital Generation, Inc. 2013-08-12 · Public merger · $3.00 a share | Extreme Reach, Inc. Strategic | Business Services | $422m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Sourcefire Inc 2013-07-22 · Public merger · $76.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; EV / LTM EBITDA 127.4x outside 1x to 75x | Cisco Systems, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $2.2bn | 127.4x | 8.8x | 39% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Market Leader, Inc. 2013-05-07 · Public merger · $6.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Trulia, Inc. Strategic | Business Services | $140m | n.a. | 2.9x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Pervasive Software Inc 2013-01-28 · Public merger · $9.20 a share | Actian Corporation Strategic | Technology | $110m | 27.4x | 2.2x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Epocrates Inc 2013-01-07 · Public merger · $11.75 a share | Inc. Strategic | Technology | $155m | 39.7x | 1.4x | 22% | DEFM14A All cash |
Versant Corp 2012-11-21 · Public merger · $13.00 a share | Actian Corporation Strategic | Technology | $14m | n.a. | 0.9x | 32% | DEFM14A All cash |
Ancestry.com Inc. 2012-10-21 · Take-private · $32.00 a share | Global Generations International Inc. Strategic | Technology | $1.3bn | 10.3x | 2.9x | 10% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Deltek, Inc 2012-08-26 · Public merger · $13.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Project Diamond Holdings Corporation Strategic | Technology | $1.0bn | 21.0x | 3.0x | n.a. | DEFM14C Includes stock |
Kenexa Corp 2012-08-25 · Public merger · $46.00 a share | International Business Machines Corporation Strategic | Technology | $1.2bn | 30.0x | 3.7x | 42% | DEFM14A All cash |
China Mass Media Corp. 2012-08-06 · Take-private · $5.00 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | CMM Holdings Limited Strategic | Business Services | $3.8bn | n.a. | n.a. | 100% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Quest Software Inc 2012-06-30 · Public merger · $28.00 a share | Dell Inc. Strategic | Technology | $2.1bn | 18.8x | 2.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Network Engines Inc 2012-06-18 · Public merger · $1.45 a share | UNICOM Systems, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $54m | 5.2x | 0.2x | 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.
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