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.
111 deals in this cut, 58 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 | 9.8x | 13.6x | 19.3x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 40 | 0.8x | 2.4x | 7.1x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 41 | 13% | 22% | 33% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 9 | 12% | 24% | 30% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Civitas Solutions, Inc. 2018-12-18 · Public merger · $17.75 a share | Celtic Intermediate Corp. Strategic | Healthcare | $1.3bn | 8.9x | 0.8x | n.a. 28% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Fidelity Southern Corp 2018-12-17 · Public merger · $1.39 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Ameris Bancorp Strategic | Financials | $159m | n.a. | 9.1x | 1% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT, Inc. 2018-12-14 · Public merger · $25.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Gcear II Strategic | Real Estate | $5.5bn | 28.3x | 16.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Nutri System Inc /de/ 2018-12-09 · Public merger · $38.75 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Tivity Health, Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $1.1bn | 12.5x | 1.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Travelport Worldwide LTD 2018-12-09 · Public merger · $15.75 a share | Toro Private Holdings III, Ltd. Strategic | Industrials | $4.1bn | 9.8x | 1.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Tribune Media Co 2018-11-30 · Public merger · $46.50 a share | Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Strategic | Media & Telecom | $6.8bn | 10.1x | 3.7x | 16% | DEFM14A All cash |
Gaming Partners International CORP 2018-11-27 · Public merger · $13.75 a share | Angel Holdings Godo Kaisha Strategic | Other | $99m | 8.8x | 1.1x | 79% | DEFM14A All cash |
Dominion Energy Midstream Partners, LP 2018-11-26 · Public merger · $18.22 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Sedona Corp. Strategic | Utilities | $5.0bn | 10.0x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
TransMontaigne Partners LLC 2018-11-25 · Public merger · $41.00 a share | TransMontaigne GP L.L.C. Strategic | Energy | $663m | 5.6x | 3.1x | 13% | DEFM14A All cash |
Cimarex Resolute LLC 2018-11-18 · Public merger · $14.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | CR Sub 1 Inc. Strategic | Energy | $1.0bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Finisar Corp 2018-11-08 · Public merger · $26.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | II-VI Incorporated Strategic | Technology | $1.9bn | 40.4x | 1.5x | 38% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Virtu Itg Holdings LLC 2018-11-06 · Public merger · $30.30 a share | Virtu Financial, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $761m | n.a. | 1.5x | 39% | DEFM14A All cash |
Inuvo, Inc. 2018-11-02 · Public merger · $0.45 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | ConversionPoint Technologies Inc. Strategic | Business Services | $15m | n.a. | 0.2x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. 2018-11-01 · Public merger · $8.00 a share | Illumina, Inc. Strategic | Industrials | $1.1bn | n.a. | 13.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Trinity Capital Corp 2018-11-01 · Public merger · $1.84 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Enterprise Financial Services Corp Strategic | Financials | $22m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Newfield Exploration Co /de/ 2018-10-31 · Public merger · $35.40 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Encana Corporation Strategic | Energy | $9.3bn | 5.8x | n.a. | 35% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Brazos Valley Longhorn, L.L.C. 2018-10-29 · Public merger · $3.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Chesapeake Energy Corporation Strategic | Energy | $1.4bn | 3.1x | 1.6x | 17% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Baytex Energy Usa, Inc. 2018-10-28 · Public merger · $25.86 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Denbury Resources Inc. Strategic | Energy | $854m | 3.0x | 2.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Red Hat Inc 2018-10-28 · Public merger · $190.00 a share | International Business Machines Corporation Strategic | Technology | $32bn | 52.6x | 10.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
EnLink Midstream Partners, LP 2018-10-21 · Public merger · $0.28 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | EnLink Midstream Manager, LLC Strategic | Utilities | $4.3bn | 4.2x | n.a. | 1% 4% to VWAP | DEFM14A Includes stock |
InfraREIT, Inc. 2018-10-18 · Public merger · $21.00 a share | Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC Strategic | Real Estate | $1.8bn | 14.7x | 13.1x | 18% | DEFM14A All cash |
Valero Energy Partners LP 2018-10-18 · Public merger · $42.25 a share | Vlp Gp Strategic | Energy | $3.8bn | 9.8x | 35.1x | 11% 12% to VWAP | DEFM14C All cash |
Endocyte Inc 2018-10-17 · Public merger · $24.00 a share | Novartis AG Strategic | Healthcare | $1.3bn | n.a. | n.a. | 51% | DEFM14A All cash |
Cambium Learning Group, Inc. 2018-10-12 · Public merger · $14.50 a share | Campus Holding Corp. Strategic | Media & Telecom | $703m | 17.1x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14C All cash |
L3 Technologies, Inc. 2018-10-12 · Public merger · $200.49 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Harris Corporation Strategic | Technology | $19bn | 13.0x | 1.9x | 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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