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.
156 deals in this cut, 87 of them safe to take a multiple from and 153 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 | 31 | 6.6x | 18.3x | 27.4x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 77 | 0.7x | 1.3x | 2.9x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 88 | 23% | 40% | 58% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 25 | 23% | 36% | 59% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pacwest Bancorp 2023-07-25 · Public merger · $12.30 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Banc of California, Inc. Strategic | Financials | $1.1bn | n.a. | 34.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Sculptor Capital Management, Inc. 2023-07-23 · Public merger · $12.00 a share | Sculptor Capital Advisors LP Financial sponsor | Financials | $354m | n.a. | 0.9x | 27% | DEFM14A All cash |
Chase Corp 2023-07-21 · Public merger · $127.50 a share | Formulations Parent Corporation Unclassified | Technology | $1.3bn | 20.3x | 3.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Diversified Healthcare Trust 2023-07-21 (filed) · Public merger · $4.00 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 | $1.3bn | n.a. | 1.0x | 9% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Denbury Inc 2023-07-13 · Public merger · $89.45 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Exxon Mobil Corporation Strategic | Energy | $4.6bn | n.a. | 3.1x | 2% | DEFM14A Includes stock |
iCoreConnect Inc. 2023-07-12 (filed) · Public merger · $0.08 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Technology | $23m | n.a. | 3.0x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
American National Group Inc. 2023-07-04 · Public merger · $38.85 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | American Equity Investment Life Holding Company Financial sponsor | Financials | -$2.0bn | n.a. | -0.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Kaleyra, Inc. 2023-06-28 · Public merger · $7.25 a share | Tata Communications Limited Strategic | Technology | $43m | n.a. | 0.1x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Amedisys Inc 2023-06-26 · Public merger · $101.00 a share | UnitedHealth Group Incorporated Strategic | Healthcare | $3.6bn | 18.4x | 1.6x | 29% | DEFM14A All cash |
Conformis Inc 2023-06-22 · Public merger · $2.27 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Healthcare | -$0m | n.a. | 0.0x | 50% 93% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Quotient Technology Inc. 2023-06-20 · Public merger · $4.00 a share | CB Neptune Holdings, LLC Strategic | Business Services | $399m | n.a. | 1.5x | 19% | DEFM14A All cash |
Cyclerion Therapeutics, Inc. 2023-06-20 (filed) · Public merger · $8.68 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM revenue 415.7x above 60x | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Healthcare | $374m | n.a. | 415.7x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Surface Oncology, Inc. 2023-06-15 · Public merger · $4.27 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Coherus Biosciences, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $157m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Gelesis Holdings, Inc. 2023-06-12 · Take-private · $0.06 a share Board book on file → | Puretech Health PLC Strategic | Healthcare | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Chinook Therapeutics, Inc. 2023-06-11 · Public merger · $40.00 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM revenue 438.7x above 60x | Novartis AG Strategic | Healthcare | $2.3bn | n.a. | 438.7x | 67% 82% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Limeade, Inc 2023-06-08 · Public merger · $0.42 a share | WebMD Health Corp. Strategic | Technology | $109m | n.a. | 1.9x | n.a. 217% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2023-06-06 · Take-private · $2.15 a share Board book on file → | Novo Holdings A/s Strategic | Healthcare | $336m | n.a. | 2.0x | 9% 20% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Circor International Inc 2023-06-05 · Public merger · $56.00 a share | Cube BidCo, Inc. Unclassified | Industrials | $1.6bn | 10.8x | 2.0x | 77% 92% to VWAP | DEFM14A All cash |
GreenLight Biosciences Holdings, PBC 2023-05-29 · Take-private · $0.30 a share | Alfa Holdings, Inc. Financial sponsor | Healthcare | $13m | n.a. | 1.3x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Arlington Asset Investment Corp. 2023-05-29 · Public merger · $0.09 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Ellington Financial Management LLC Financial sponsor | Real Estate | -$10m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Desktop Metal, Inc. 2023-05-25 · Public merger · $18.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Tetris Sub Inc. Strategic | Industrials | $5.6bn | n.a. | 27.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Embark Technology, Inc. 2023-05-25 · Public merger · $2.88 a share | Applied Intuition, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $921m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Wireless Telecom Group Inc 2023-05-24 · Public merger · $2.13 a share | Maury Microwave, Inc. Strategic | Technology | $26m | n.a. | 1.3x | n.a. | DEFM14A All cash |
Apexigen, Inc. 2023-05-23 · Public merger · $10.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Pyxis Oncology, Inc. Strategic | Healthcare | $234m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | DEFM14A Includes stock |
Necessity Retail REIT, Inc. 2023-05-23 · Public merger · $25.00 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 | $3.3bn | 16.6x | 7.1x | 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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