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.
22 deals in this cut, 15 of them safe to take a multiple from and 21 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 | 14 | 6.0x | 10.4x | 14.4x |
| EV / LTM revenue | 10 | 1.1x | 1.4x | 2.9x |
| Premium to unaffected price | 13 | 12% | 17% | 20% |
| Premium to 30-day VWAP | 6 | 20% | 23% | 54% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Energy Co of Parana 2025-06-25 (filed) · Take-private · $0.77 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value; equity value 1,006 vs fee-table value 3,842 | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Utilities | $1.0bn | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Emeren Group Ltd 2025-06-18 · Take-private · $0.20 a share Board book on file → | Shurya Vitra LTD. Financial sponsor | Utilities | $89m | 22.9x | 1.0x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Avangrid, Inc. 2024-05-17 · Take-private · $35.75 a share Board book on file → | Arizona Merger Sub, Inc. Unclassified | Utilities | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Via Renewables, Inc. 2023-12-29 · Take-private · $11.00 a share Board book on file → | Nudevco Retail Holdings, LLC Financial sponsor | Utilities | $96m | 4.0x | 0.2x | 17% 20% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
DCP Midstream, LP 2023-01-05 · Take-private · $41.75 a share Board book on file → | Phillips 66 Project Development Inc. Strategic | Utilities | $14bn | 12.6x | 0.9x | 20% 25% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Newater Technology, Inc. 2020-09-29 · Take-private · $3.65 a share Board book on file → | Crouching Tiger Holding LTD Strategic | Utilities | $43m | 5.8x | 1.1x | 72% 64% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Sky Solar Holdings, Ltd. 2020-07-06 (filed) · Take-private · $0.30 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Square Ltd Financial sponsor | Utilities | $126m | n.a. | n.a. | 81% 109% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Tallgrass Energy, LP 2019-12-16 · Take-private · $22.45 a share Board book on file → | Prairie Eci Acquiror LP Financial sponsor | Utilities | $7.5bn | 15.0x | 8.7x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Third Coast Midstream, LLC 2019-03-17 · Take-private · $5.25 a share | Anchor Midstream Acquisition, LLC Strategic | Utilities | $1.3bn | 11.5x | 1.6x | 31% | SC 13E3 All cash |
EQGP Holdings, LP 2018-11-30 (filed) · Take-private · $20.00 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Utilities | $6.0bn | 5.8x | n.a. | 18% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Antero Midstream Partners LP 2018-11-05 (filed) · Take-private · $3.00 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Utilities | $2.1bn | 3.7x | 2.1x | 7% | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
PennTex Midstream Partners, LP 2017-06-07 (filed) · Take-private · $20.00 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Utilities | $563m | 25.3x | n.a. | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
PennTex Midstream Partners, LP 2017-05-18 (filed) · Take-private · $20.00 a share | Not named in the filing Unclassified | Utilities | $563m | 25.3x | n.a. | 18% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Midcoast Energy Partners, L.P. 2017-01-26 · Take-private · $8.00 a share Held out of the multiples: EV / LTM EBITDA 551.1x outside 1x to 75x | Mep GP Strategic | Utilities | $992m | 551.1x | 0.5x | n.a. 20% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Columbia Pipeline Partners LP 2016-11-01 · Take-private · $17.00 a share | Cpp Gp LLC ). Strategic | Utilities | $1.5bn | 2.5x | 1.1x | n.a. | SC 13E3 All cash |
Talen Energy Corp 2016-06-02 · Take-private · $14.00 a share | RPH Parent LLC Unclassified | Utilities | $5.7bn | 12.6x | n.a. | 14% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L P 2014-08-09 · Take-private · $10.77 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Plan of Merger Unclassified | Utilities | $25bn | 4.9x | 1.8x | 12% | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. 2014-08-09 · Take-private · $4.65 a share Held out of the multiples: consideration includes stock: the cash figure is not the price | Plan of Merger Unclassified | Utilities | $9.5bn | 8.7x | 6.4x | 12% | SC 13E3 Includes stock |
Sino Gas International Holdings, Inc. 2014-04-03 · Take-private · $1.30 a share Held out of the premiums: premium of 165%: distressed or misread | Prosperity Gas Holdings Limited Strategic | Utilities | $117m | 8.2x | 1.7x | 165% | SC 13E3 All cash |
China Hydroelectric Corp 2014-01-13 · Take-private · $1.17 a share | CPT Wyndham Holdings Ltd. Strategic | Utilities | $426m | 9.3x | 5.7x | 6% 3% to VWAP | SC 13E3 All cash |
Crestwood Midstream Partners LP 2013-05-05 · Take-private · $1.03 a share | Crestwood Gas Services GP LLC Strategic | Utilities | $783m | 6.6x | 3.4x | 10% | SC 13E3 All cash |
Caprius Inc 2010-11-10 · Take-private · $0.07 a share Held out of the multiples: no balance sheet at announcement: EV = equity value | Vintage Capital Group LLC Financial sponsor | Utilities | $1m | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | 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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