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.
174 deals in this cut, 112 of them safe to take a multiple from and 168 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 | 53 | 8.9x | 13.3x | 18.3x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 99 | 0.7x | 1.5x | 3.2x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 101 | 19% | 34% | 54% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 28 | 23% | 40% | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arcadium Lithium plc 2024-11-20 (filed) · Public merger · $5.85 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA 129.3x outside 1x to 75x | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Healthcare | $6.9bn | 129.3x | 7.6x | 103% | DEFM14A All cash |
Piedmont Lithium Inc. 2024-11-18 · Public merger · $0.17 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Sayona Mining Limited Strategic | Materials | -$43m | n.a. | -0.9x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Adams Resources & Energy, Inc. 2024-11-11 · Public merger · $38.00 a share | Tres Energy LLC Strategic | Energy | $90m | 5.7x | 0.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Emcore Corp 2024-11-07 · Public merger · $3.10 a share | Velocity One Holdings, LP Strategic | Technology | $26m | n.a. | 0.3x | 42% | DEFM14A All cash |
Evans Bancorp Inc 2024-11-07 (filed) · Public merger · $42.11 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | NBT Bancorp Inc. Strategic | Financials | $105m | n.a. | 50.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Roth CH Acquisition V Co. 2024-11-07 (filed) · Public merger · $10.00 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Energy | $49m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Retail Opportunity Investments Corp 2024-11-06 · Public merger · $17.50 a share | Montana Purchaser LLC Unclassified | Real Estate | $2.2bn | 8.9x | 6.5x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Avid Bioservices, Inc. 2024-11-06 · Public merger · $12.50 a share | Space Finco, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $815m | n.a. | 5.4x | 64% | DEFM14A All cash |
Kimco Realty Corp 2024-11-04 (filed) · Take-private · $62.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price; equity value 41,793 vs fee-table value 115 | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Real Estate | $41bn | 34.1x | 20.9x | n.a. | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
Air Transport Services Group, Inc. 2024-11-03 · Public merger · $22.50 a share | Stonepeak Nile Parent LLC Unclassified | Other | $3.0bn | 5.8x | 1.6x | 29% | DEFM14A All cash |
Micropac Industries Inc 2024-11-01 · Public merger · $20.00 a share | Teledyne Technologies Incorporated Strategic | Technology | $56m | 8.9x | 1.5x | n.a. | DEFM14C All cash |
William Penn Bancorporation 2024-10-31 · Public merger · $13.58 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Mid Penn Strategic | Financials | $99m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Altair Engineering Inc. 2024-10-30 · Public merger · $113.00 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA 89.4x outside 1x to 75x | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Technology | $6.3bn | 89.4x | 9.7x | 19% | DEFM14A All cash |
BM Technologies, Inc. 2024-10-24 · Public merger · $5.00 a share | First Carolina Bank Strategic | Financials | $49m | n.a. | 0.9x | 54% | DEFM14A All cash |
Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc 2024-10-21 · Public merger · $35.11 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Atlantic Union Strategic | Financials | $834m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
SecureWorks Corp 2024-10-21 · Public merger · $8.50 a share | Sophos Inc. Strategic | Technology | $113m | n.a. | 0.3x | n.a. | DEFM14C All cash |
Zuora Inc 2024-10-17 · Take-private · $10.00 a share Held out of the multiples: equity value 86 vs fee-table value 1,734 | Silver Lake Group, L.L.C. Financial sponsor | Technology | -$92m | n.a. | -0.2x | 18% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc 2024-10-16 · Public merger · $45.00 a share | Aperam US Holdco LLC Unclassified | Materials | $485m | 8.3x | 1.5x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Duckhorn Portfolio, Inc. 2024-10-06 · Public merger · $11.10 a share | Marlee Buyer, Inc. Unclassified | Consumer & Retail | $1.9bn | 14.6x | 4.8x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Barnes Group Inc 2024-10-06 · Public merger · $47.50 a share | Goat Holdco, LLC Unclassified | Industrials | $3.5bn | 14.8x | 2.1x | 19% | DEFM14A All cash |
Martin Midstream Partners L.P. 2024-10-03 · Take-private · $4.02 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price Board book on file → | Cross Oil Refining & Marketing, Inc Strategic | Energy | $626m | 5.3x | 0.9x | 34% 33% to VWAP | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
Lufax Holding Ltd 2024-09-27 (filed) · Take-private · $2.25 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | AnKe Technology Co Ltd Strategic | Financials | $2.6bn | n.a. | n.a. | 3% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Markforged Holding Corp 2024-09-25 · Public merger · $5.00 a share | Nano Dimension Ltd. Strategic | Industrials | $943m | n.a. | 10.9x | 83% | DEFM14A All cash |
Smartsheet Inc 2024-09-24 · Public merger · $56.50 a share | Einstein Parent, Inc. Unclassified | Technology | $7.1bn | n.a. | 6.8x | 25% | DEFM14A All cash |
Village Bank & Trust Financial Corp. 2024-09-23 · Public merger · $80.25 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Financials | $102m | n.a. | 2.4x | 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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