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.
96 deals in this cut, 57 of them safe to take a multiple from and 96 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 | 31 | 8.0x | 10.3x | 13.4x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 38 | 0.8x | 1.3x | 2.1x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 54 | 20% | 36% | 43% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 3 | Too thin to quote. Widen the cut. | ||
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Zipcar Inc 2012-12-31 · Public merger · $12.25 a share | Avis Budget Strategic | Other | $515m | 10.9x | 1.9x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Roebling Financial Corp, Inc. 2012-12-28 · Public merger · $8.60 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | TF Financial Corporation Strategic | Financials | $10m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Firstcity Financial Corp 2012-12-20 · Public merger · $10.00 a share | Hotspurs Holdings LLC Strategic | Financials | $64m | n.a. | 0.9x | 21% | DEFM14A All cash |
Knight Capital Group LLC 2012-12-19 · Public merger · $3.75 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | GETCO Holding Company, LLC Strategic | Financials | $695m | n.a. | 0.9x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Clearwire Corp /DE 2012-12-17 · Public merger · $2.97 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Sprint Nextel Corporation Strategic | Media & Telecom | $8.4bn | n.a. | 6.4x | 129% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
American Realty Capital Trust III, Inc. 2012-12-14 · Public merger · $12.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | ARC Properties Operating Partnership, L.P. Strategic | Real Estate | $1.4bn | n.a. | 53.9x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Pernix Sleep, Inc. 2012-12-10 · Public merger · $2.56 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Pernix Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $10m | n.a. | n.a. | 129% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Intermec, Inc. 2012-12-09 · Public merger · $10.00 a share | Honeywell International Inc. Strategic | Industrials | $518m | n.a. | 0.6x | 25% | DEFM14A All cash |
Heelys, Inc. 2012-12-07 · Public merger · $2.25 a share | Sequential Brands Group, Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $34m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Epoch Holding Corp 2012-12-06 · Public merger · $28.00 a share | The Toronto-Dominion Bank Strategic | Financials | $626m | 12.7x | 6.2x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
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 |
Ralcorp Holdings Inc /Mo 2012-11-26 · Public merger · $90.00 a share | ConAgra Foods Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $6.6bn | 14.0x | n.a. | 26% | 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 |
Biomimetic Therapeutics, Inc. 2012-11-19 · Public merger · $1.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Wright Medical Group, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | -$2m | n.a. | -0.9x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Outdoor Channel Holdings Inc 2012-11-15 · Public merger · $4.46 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | InterMedia Outdoors Holdings, LLC Strategic | Media & Telecom | $77m | 7.7x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
White River Capital Inc 2012-11-15 · Public merger · $21.93 a share | Coastal Credit Holdings, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $73m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Teavana Holdings Inc 2012-11-14 · Public merger · $15.50 a share | Starbucks Corporation Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $597m | n.a. | n.a. | 53% | DEFM14C All cash |
Bluegreen Vacations Corp 2012-11-14 · Public merger · $10.00 a share | BFC Financial Corporation Strategic | Real Estate | $215m | n.a. | 0.5x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
First California Financial Group, Inc. 2012-11-06 · Public merger · $8.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | PacWest Bancorp Strategic | Financials | $191m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Mips Technologies Inc 2012-11-05 · Public merger · $7.94 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Imagination Technologies Group plc Strategic | Technology | $299m | 23.9x | 3.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Metropolitan Health Networks Inc 2012-11-03 · Public merger · $11.25 a share | Humana Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $741m | 8.1x | 1.0x | 4% | DEFM14A All cash |
Ediets Com Inc 2012-10-31 · Public merger · $4.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | As Seen On TV, Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $57m | n.a. | 2.8x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Pss World Medical Inc 2012-10-24 · Public merger · $29.00 a share | McKesson Corporation Strategic | Industrials | $1.8bn | n.a. | 0.9x | 34% | DEFM14A All cash |
Spartech Corp 2012-10-23 · Public merger · $2.67 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | PolyOne Corporation Strategic | Materials | $246m | 22.2x | 0.2x | 40% | 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.
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