Purchase price and consideration
Offer, premium, mix, new shares, exchange ratio.
By Surojit Chakraverti, founder of L3VLUP and an investor running a long-short healthcare and technology equities strategy.
On this subject: purchase price and consideration.Updated 30 September 2026
What it does
The first block of a merger model. The offer price is the unaffected price plus a premium; times the target’s diluted shares it is the equity purchase price; plus net debt it is the enterprise value the multiples are quoted on. The consideration mix then splits the price into cash and acquirer stock, and the stock portion divided by the acquirer’s price is the number of new shares.
Where it lives
The same schedule in each model that carries it, with the rows to open. Open a model in the browser, go to the sheet, and click the lines.
- Assumptions, rows 6–11: Share price, Diluted shares outstanding, Revenue, EBITDA…
- Assumptions, rows 15–20: Share price, unaffected, Diluted shares outstanding, Revenue, EBITDA…
- Purchase Price, rows 5–10: Offer price per share, Equity purchase price, Enterprise value (plus target net debt), Implied EV / Year 1 EBITDA…
- Purchase Price, rows 13–18: Paid in stock, Paid in cash, New acquirer shares issued, Exchange ratio (acquirer shares per target share)…
What a reviewer looks for
- New shares issued at the offer price instead of the acquirer’s price.
- Basic rather than diluted target shares.
- An exchange ratio quoted the wrong way round.
Learn it, then build it
Understand · Primer
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Vocabulary: Merger Model, Equity Value.