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.
109 deals in this cut, 47 of them safe to take a multiple from and 108 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 | 35 | 8.4x | 14.0x | 19.5x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 37 | 1.1x | 2.0x | 3.1x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 58 | 19% | 29% | 38% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 5 | 15% | 15% | 15% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ameritrust Group, Inc. 2014-12-30 · Public merger · $8.65 a share | Miracle Nova II, LLC Strategic | Financials | $408m | n.a. | 0.5x | 24% | DEFM14A All cash |
Uroplasty Inc 2014-12-21 · Public merger · $0.78 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Vision-Sciences, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $8m | n.a. | 0.3x | 56% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Pantry Inc 2014-12-18 · Public merger · $36.75 a share | Couche-Tard U.S. Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $1.3bn | 5.9x | 0.2x | 3% | DEFM14A All cash |
Petsmart Inc 2014-12-14 · Public merger · $83.00 a share | Argos Holdings Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $8.1bn | 8.6x | 1.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Riverbed Technology, Inc. 2014-12-14 · Public merger · $21.00 a share | Project Homestake Holdings, LLC Strategic | Industrials | $3.4bn | 18.3x | 3.1x | 12% | DEFM14A All cash |
Heritage Financial Group Inc 2014-12-10 · Public merger · $27.00 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 | Renasant Bank Strategic | Financials | $248m | n.a. | n.a. | 27% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Alico, Inc. 2014-12-02 · Public merger · $36.85 a share | 734 Sub, LLC Strategic | Other | $274m | 17.5x | 3.1x | n.a. | DEFM14C All cash |
Spansion Inc. 2014-12-01 · Public merger · $27.30 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Cypress Semiconductor Corporation Strategic | Technology | $1.8bn | 22.4x | 1.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Platinum Underwriters Holdings Ltd 2014-11-23 · Public merger · $35.96 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA 5008.0x outside 1x to 75x; EV / LTM revenue 1474.9x above 60x | Renaissancere Holdings LTD. Strategic | Financials | $891bn | 5008.0x | 1474.9x | 24% | DEFM14A 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 |
Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc 2014-11-17 · Public merger · $33.25 a share | QLT Holding Corp. Strategic | Healthcare | $1.9bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Valley Financial Corp /Va/ 2014-11-17 · Public merger · $20.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | BNC Bancorp Strategic | Financials | $85m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Baker Hughes Holdings LLC 2014-11-16 · Public merger · $19.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Red Tiger LLC Strategic | Industrials | $11bn | 2.8x | 0.5x | 54% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Allergan Inc 2014-11-16 · Public merger · $129.22 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Actavis plc Strategic | Healthcare | $36bn | 17.1x | 5.1x | 19% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Horizon Lines, Inc. 2014-11-11 · Public merger · $0.72 a share | Matson Navigation Company, Inc. Strategic | Industrials | $562m | 8.1x | n.a. | 90% | DEFM14A All cash |
Susquehanna Bancshares Inc 2014-11-11 · Public merger · $4.05 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | BB&T Corporation Strategic | Financials | -$79m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Banner Corp 2014-11-05 · Public merger · $22.05 a share | SKBHC Holdings LLC Strategic | Financials | $280m | 4.5x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Elecsys Corp 2014-11-04 · Public merger · $17.50 a share | Lindsay Corporation Strategic | Technology | $68m | 19.3x | 2.3x | 83% | DEFM14A All cash |
Hudson Valley Holding Corp 2014-11-04 · Public merger · $26.86 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Sterling Bancorp Strategic | Financials | $226m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Sterling Bancorp 2014-11-04 · Public merger · $26.86 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Hudson Valley Holding Corp. Strategic | Financials | $3.0bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Hampden Bancorp, Inc. 2014-11-03 · Public merger · $19.79 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $233m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Covance Inc 2014-11-02 · Public merger · $75.76 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings Strategic | Business Services | $3.9bn | 11.0x | 1.4x | 32% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Esb Financial Corp 2014-10-29 · Public merger · $1.76 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Wesbanco Bank, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $10m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Digital River Inc /de 2014-10-23 · Public merger · $26.00 a share | Danube Private Holdings II, LLC Strategic | Industrials | $443m | 27.4x | 1.2x | 56% | DEFM14A All cash |
Btu International Inc 2014-10-21 · Public merger · $3.12 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Amtech Systems, Inc. Strategic | Industrials | $27m | n.a. | 0.5x | n.a. | 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.
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