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.
101 deals in this cut, 45 of them safe to take a multiple from and 100 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 | 22 | 8.2x | 12.8x | 23.8x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 39 | 0.9x | 1.6x | 3.9x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 37 | 13% | 29% | 42% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 6 | 6% | 20% | 44% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alaska Communications Systems Group Inc 2020-12-31 · Public merger · $3.40 a share | Juneau Parent Co, Inc. Unclassified | Media & Telecom | $332m | 6.3x | 1.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Red Lion Hotels CORP 2020-12-30 · Public merger · $3.50 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Consumer & Retail | $61m | n.a. | 0.9x | 30% | DEFM14A All cash |
Helix Technologies, Inc. 2020-12-30 · Public merger · $0.90 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Forian Inc. Strategic | Business Services | $113m | n.a. | 8.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Prgx Global, Inc. 2020-12-24 · Public merger · $7.71 a share | Pluto Acquisitionco Inc. Strategic | Business Services | $190m | 18.8x | 1.2x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Harvest Capital Credit Corp 2020-12-23 · Public merger · $3.55 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 | Sierra Crest Investment Management LLC Financial sponsor | Other | $21m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
ImmunityBio, Inc. 2020-12-21 · Public merger · $2.65 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; EV / LTM revenue 1988.0x above 60x | NantKwest, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $199m | n.a. | 1988.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Sportsman'S Warehouse Holdings, Inc. 2020-12-21 · Public merger · $18.00 a share | Great Outdoors Group, LLC Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $774m | 6.6x | 0.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
RigNet, Inc. 2020-12-20 · Public merger · $6.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; EV / LTM EBITDA 149.7x outside 1x to 75x | Viasat, Inc. Strategic | Media & Telecom | $225m | 149.7x | 1.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
RealPage, Inc. 2020-12-20 · Public merger · $88.75 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Mirasol Parent, LLC Unclassified | Technology | $9.0bn | 69.7x | 8.1x | 31% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. 2020-12-20 · Public merger · $56.00 a share | Lockheed Martin Strategic | Industrials | $3.9bn | 13.1x | 1.9x | 33% | DEFM14A All cash |
Tottenham Acquisition I Ltd 2020-12-18 (filed) · Public merger · $10.00 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 | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Healthcare | $37m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
UWM Holdings Corp 2020-12-16 (filed) · Public merger · $10.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Financials | $531m | n.a. | 0.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Rush Street Interactive, Inc. 2020-12-14 (filed) · Public merger · $10.00 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Consumer & Retail | $287m | n.a. | 4.5x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Tc Pipelines LP 2020-12-14 · Public merger · $30.50 a share | TC Energy Corporation Strategic | Utilities | $4.1bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Tcf Financial Corp 2020-12-13 · Public merger · $38.83 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Huntington Bancshares Incorporated Strategic | Financials | $5.7bn | n.a. | 8.1x | 12% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Huntington Bancshares Inc /Md/ 2020-12-13 · Public merger · $38.83 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Financials | $43bn | n.a. | 47.7x | 12% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2020-12-12 · Public merger · $60.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Healthcare | $13bn | 15.0x | 2.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Pluralsight, Inc. 2020-12-11 · Public merger · $20.26 a share | Lake Holdings, LP Strategic | Technology | $357m | n.a. | 0.9x | n.a. 25% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Bay Banks of Virginia Inc 2020-12-11 (filed) · Public merger · $58.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Financials | $714m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Neos Therapeutics, Inc. 2020-12-10 · Public merger · $1.21 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Inc. on December 10 Strategic | Healthcare | $81m | n.a. | 1.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
ZAGG Inc 2020-12-10 · Public merger · $4.20 a share | Zephyr Parent, Inc. Unclassified | Consumer & Retail | $206m | n.a. | 0.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Mts Systems Corp 2020-12-08 · Public merger · $58.50 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Industrials | $1.6bn | n.a. | 1.9x | 52% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp 2020-12-06 · Public merger · $0.61 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Ready Capital Financial sponsor | Real Estate | $23m | n.a. | n.a. | 30% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Counterpath Corp 2020-12-06 · Public merger · $3.49 a share | Alianza, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $20m | 18.1x | 1.4x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Waddell & Reed Financial Inc 2020-12-02 · Public merger · $25.00 a share | Macquarie Management Holdings, Inc. Financial sponsor | Financials | $819m | n.a. | 0.8x | 48% | 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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