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.
208 deals in this cut, 116 of them safe to take a multiple from and 203 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 | 67 | 9.2x | 12.7x | 15.9x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 74 | 0.8x | 1.9x | 4.4x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 84 | 15% | 25% | 36% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 13 | 12% | 22% | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Imperva Inc 2018-10-10 · Public merger · $55.75 a share | Imperial Purchaser, LLC Unclassified | Technology | $1.8bn | n.a. | n.a. | 29% 22% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Esterline Technologies Corp 2018-10-09 · Public merger · $122.50 a share | Transdigm Group Incorporated Strategic | Industrials | $3.9bn | n.a. | 1.9x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Birner Dental Management Services Inc 2018-10-03 · Public merger · $10.62 a share | Mid-Atlantic Dental Services Holdings, LLC Strategic | Healthcare | $26m | n.a. | n.a. | 105% | DEFM14A All cash |
Strategic Storage Growth Trust, Inc. 2018-10-01 · Public merger · $12.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Real Estate | $318m | 58.9x | 17.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Sonic Corp 2018-09-24 · Public merger · $43.50 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Consumer & Retail | $2.2bn | 15.4x | 5.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Xo Group Inc. 2018-09-24 · Public merger · $35.00 a share | WeddingWire, Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $790m | 27.7x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Blue Hills Bancorp, Inc. 2018-09-20 · Public merger · $5.25 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Financials | $255m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Command Security Corp 2018-09-18 · Public merger · $2.85 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Business Services | $44m | 16.3x | 0.2x | 55% | DEFM14A All cash |
Nevada Gold & Casinos Inc 2018-09-18 · Public merger · $2.50 a share | Maverick Casinos LLC Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $41m | 9.4x | 0.6x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Nexeo Solutions, Inc. 2018-09-17 · Public merger · $11.65 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Univar Inc. Strategic | Energy | $1.9bn | 8.9x | 0.5x | 16% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Enbridge Energy Management L L C 2018-09-17 · Public merger · $0.29 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | L.L.C. Strategic | Energy | $27m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Enbridge Energy Partners LP 2018-09-17 · Public merger · $0.29 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Enbridge Energy Management Strategic | Energy | $6.8bn | 4.7x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Renesas Electronics America Inc. 2018-09-10 · Public merger · $49.00 a share | Integrated Device Technology, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $5.9bn | 36.6x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Engility Holdings, Inc. 2018-09-09 · Public merger · $40.96 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Business Services | $2.4bn | 14.4x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
FGL Holdings 2018-09-06 (filed) · Take-private · $0.98 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Financials | -$1.2bn | n.a. | -0.8x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
LaSalle Hotel Properties 2018-09-06 · Public merger · $37.80 a share | BRE Landmark L.P. Strategic | Real Estate | $5.0bn | 16.8x | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Wsi Industries, Inc. 2018-09-05 · Public merger · $7.00 a share | Polaris Industries Inc. Strategic | Industrials | $24m | n.a. | n.a. | 36% | DEFM14A All cash |
K2m Group Holdings, Inc. 2018-08-29 · Public merger · $27.50 a share | Stryker Corporation Strategic | Healthcare | $1.1bn | n.a. | 4.2x | 26% | DEFM14A All cash |
Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd 2018-08-27 · Public merger · $42.75 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Highlands Holdings, Ltd. Strategic | Financials | $1.8bn | n.a. | 0.7x | 7% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Navigators Group Inc 2018-08-22 · Public merger · $70.00 a share | The Hartford Strategic | Financials | $1.9bn | n.a. | 1.4x | 7% | DEFM14A All cash |
Zoe's Kitchen, Inc. 2018-08-16 · Public merger · $12.75 a share | Cava Group, Inc. Strategic | Consumer & Retail | $267m | n.a. | 0.8x | 33% | DEFM14A All cash |
Kmg Chemicals Inc 2018-08-14 · Public merger · $55.65 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Cabot Microelectronics Corporation Strategic | Materials | $1.1bn | 9.7x | 2.5x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Medley Management Inc. 2018-08-09 · Public merger · $3.75 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Medley Capital Corporation Financial sponsor | Financials | $189m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
PhenixFIN Corp 2018-08-09 · Public merger · $3.75 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 | Medley Capital Corporation Financial sponsor | Other | $204m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Medley Management Inc. 2018-08-09 · Take-private · $3.75 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Sierra Income Corporation Strategic | Financials | $189m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 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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