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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.

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.

MeasureDeals25thMedian75th
EV / LTM EBITDA207.9x12.0x15.1x
EV / LTM revenue270.7x1.2x2.2x
Premium to unaffected price8718%32%55%
Premium to 30-day VWAP538%40%42%

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.

Deals by year of announcement
01142282009: 17 deals, 2 clean on every measure2009172010: 226 deals, 40 clean on every measure20102262011: 208 deals, 92 clean on every measure20112082012: 185 deals, 117 clean on every measure20121852013: 198 deals, 136 clean on every measure20131982014: 180 deals, 85 clean on every measure20141802015: 196 deals, 108 clean on every measure20151962016: 228 deals, 142 clean on every measure20162282017: 187 deals, 109 clean on every measure20171872018: 208 deals, 113 clean on every measure20182082019: 195 deals, 108 clean on every measure20191952020: 142 deals, 73 clean on every measure20201422021: 194 deals, 99 clean on every measure20211942022: 161 deals, 98 clean on every measure20221612023: 156 deals, 86 clean on every measure20231562024: 174 deals, 109 clean on every measure20241742025: 186 deals, 98 clean on every measure20251862026: 97 deals, 54 clean on every measure202697
Clean on every measure In doubt on one measure or both
Median EV / LTM EBITDA by sector
Technology: 33.9x median across 4 dealsTechnology33.9xn=4Consumer & Retail: 8.4x median across 4 dealsConsumer & Retail8.4xn=4
Deals by sector
Technology: 34 dealsTechnology34Financials: 28 dealsFinancials28Healthcare: 26 dealsHealthcare26Industrials: 23 dealsIndustrials23Energy: 20 dealsEnergy20Real Estate: 18 dealsReal Estate18Consumer & Retail: 16 dealsConsumer & Retail16Business Services: 12 dealsBusiness Services12Materials: 9 dealsMaterials9Media & Telecom: 9 dealsMedia & Telecom9Utilities: 7 dealsUtilities7Other: 6 dealsOther6
Deals by buyer type
Financial sponsor: 3 dealsFinancial sponsor3Strategic: 92 dealsStrategic92Management / founder: 0 dealsManagement / founder0Controlling holder: 0 dealsControlling holder0Acquisition vehicle: 0 dealsAcquisition vehicle0Unclassified: 113 dealsUnclassified113
Deals by enterprise value
Under $250m: 91 dealsUnder $250m91$250m to $1bn: 48 deals$250m to $1bn48$1bn to $5bn: 39 deals$1bn to $5bn39$5bn to $20bn: 14 deals$5bn to $20bn14Over $20bn: 1 dealsOver $20bn1Not computed: 15 dealsNot computed15
Deals by industry code
Business Services & Software: 24 dealsBusiness Services & Sof…24Electronics & Electrical Equipment: 19 dealsElectronics & Electrica…19Oil & Gas Extraction: 18 dealsOil & Gas Extraction18Depository Institutions: 16 dealsDepository Institutions16Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & Allied Products: 15 dealsChemicals, Pharmaceutic…15Real Estate: 14 dealsReal Estate14Instruments, Medical Devices & Optical Goods: 12 dealsInstruments, Medical De…12Insurance Carriers: 11 dealsInsurance Carriers11Communications: 7 dealsCommunications7Electric, Gas & Sanitary Services: 7 dealsElectric, Gas & Sanitar…7
TargetAcquirerIndustryEVEV / EBITDAEV / revenuePremiumFiling
Consolidated Capital Properties Iv
2011-07-28 · Take-private · $57.44 a share
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Real Estate$19mn.a.n.a.
n.a.
SC 13E3
All cash
National Property Investors 6
2011-07-28 (filed) · Take-private · $41.08 a share
Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Real Estate$5mn.a.1.0x
n.a.
SC 13E3
All cash
Angeles Partners Xii, LP
2011-07-28 · Take-private · $526.71 a share
Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Real Estate$24mn.a.n.a.
n.a.
SC 13E3
All cash
Century Properties Fund Xix
2011-07-28 · Take-private · $352.02 a share
Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Real Estate$31mn.a.3.5x
n.a.
SC 13E3
All cash
Consolidated Capital Institutional Properties 3
2011-07-28 · Take-private · $59.36 a share
Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Real Estate$23mn.a.n.a.
n.a.
SC 13E3
All cash
Consolidated Capital Institutional Properties 2
2011-07-28 · Take-private · $8.45 a share
Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Real Estate$8mn.a.3.1x
n.a.
SC 13E3
All cash
Century Properties Fund Xvii
2011-07-28 · Take-private · $311.18 a share
Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Real Estate$23mn.a.n.a.
n.a.
SC 13E3
All cash
Green Bankshares, Inc.
2011-07-27 (filed) · Public merger · $1.81 a share
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Financials-$320mn.a.n.a.
n.a.
DEFM14A
All cash
Express Scripts Inc
2011-07-20 · Public merger · $28.80 a share
Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Consumer & Retail$18bn7.2x0.4x
n.a.
DEFM14A
Includes stock
Medco Health Solutions Inc
2011-07-20 · Public merger · $28.80 a share
Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Consumer & Retail$16bn6.0x0.2x
n.a.
DEFM14A
Includes stock
Southern Union Co
2011-07-19 · Public merger · $44.25 a share
Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price
Energy Transfer Equity, L.P.
Strategic
Utilities$9.0bn13.5x3.6x
n.a.
DEFM14A
Includes stock
Nalco Holding CO
2011-07-19 · Public merger · $38.80 a share
Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Healthcare$8.0bn10.1x1.8x
34%
DEFM14A
Includes stock
Allos Therapeutics Inc
2011-07-19 · Public merger · $2.00 a share
Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Healthcare$102mn.a.1.6x
n.a.
DEFM14A
Includes stock
Sterling Chemicals Inc
2011-07-18 (filed) · Public merger · $2.50 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
Materials$7mn.a.n.a.
1%
DEFM14C
Includes stock
Kinetic Concepts Inc
2011-07-12 · Public merger · $68.50 a share
Chiron Holdings, Inc.
Strategic
Consumer & Retail$5.6bn8.8x2.7x
n.a.
DEFM14A
All cash
Central Vermont Public Service Corp
2011-07-11 · Public merger · $35.25 a share
Gaz Métro Limited Partnership
Strategic
Utilities$675m17.2xn.a.
55%
DEFM14A
All cash
Conmed Healthcare Management, Inc.
2011-07-11 · Public merger · $3.85 a share
Ayelet Investments LLC
Financial sponsor
Healthcare$36m12.8xn.a.
n.a.
DEFM14A
All cash
Encore Energy Partners LP
2011-07-10 · Public merger · $0.15 a share
Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price
Vanguard Natural Gas, LLC
Strategic
Energy$232mn.a.n.a.
n.a.
DEFM14A
Includes stock
Apac Customer Services, Inc
2011-07-06 · Public merger · $8.55 a share
Blackhawk Acquisition Parent, LLC
Unclassified
Business Services$389mn.a.n.a.
57%
DEFM14A
All cash
Vaughan Foods, Inc.
2011-07-06 · Public merger · $1.58 a share
Held out of the premiums: premium of 295%: distressed or misread
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Consumer & Retail$22mn.a.n.a.
295%
DEFM14A
All cash
Ameron International Corp
2011-07-01 · Public merger · $85.00 a share
National Oilwell Varco, Inc.
Strategic
Industrials$803mn.a.n.a.
29%
DEFM14A
All cash
Blackboard Inc
2011-06-30 · Public merger · $45.00 a share
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Technology$1.5bn46.8x3.1x
18%
DEFM14A
All cash
Bjs Wholesale Club Inc
2011-06-28 · Public merger · $51.25 a share
Beacon Holding Inc.
Strategic
Consumer & Retail$2.6bn7.4x0.2x
7%
DEFM14A
All cash
Agilysys Inc
2011-06-28 (filed) · Public merger · $9.00 a share
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Technology$133mn.a.0.7x
n.a.
DEFM14A
All cash
Tiens Biotech Group Usa Inc
2011-06-27 (filed) · Take-private · $1.72 a share
Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value
Not named in the filing
Unclassified
Healthcare$123mn.a.n.a.
67%
56% to VWAP
SC 13E3
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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