Content
- Historic record for the Argos Index® at 11.1x EBITDA
- For the first time, multiples paid by private equity funds cross the 10x bar; they finally close the gap with the multiples paid by strategic buyers
- Multiples > 15x represent nearly 20% of the transactions
- Driven by a favourable market environment and consequently their higher valuations, listed companies were in a position to make opportunistic acquisitions
- Mid-market M&A activity remained weak in the fourth quarter and throughout 2020
Main conclusions
- Historic record for the Argos Index® at 11.1x EBITDA
- For the first time, multiples paid by private equity funds cross the 10x bar; they finally close the gap with the multiples paid by strategic buyers
- Multiples > 15x represent nearly 20% of the transactions
- Driven by a favourable market environment and consequently their higher valuations, listed companies were in a position to make opportunistic acquisitions
- Mid-market M&A activity remained weak in the fourth quarter and throughout 2020
Median EV/EBITDA multiple on a six-month rolling basis
Source: Mid-market Argos Index® / Epsilon Research
All on the Argos Index ®
MANAGING PARTNER
Louis Godron
“The Argos Index® was born out of the desire to create a database for the unlisted market that would be both methodologically robust and rich in high-quality information. Robustness is the index’s salient characteristic.”
MANAGING PARTNER
Frank Hermann
“When the CEO of a company wonders if now is the right time to sell, the Argos Index® supplies essential business cycle information and helps him or her make a decision. The Argos Index® derives its legitimacy from its longevity and independence.”
FOUNDER, EPSILON RESEARCH
Grégoire Buisson
“If the Argos Index® is now a benchmark in Europe, it’s because we use information from our EMAT (Epsilon Multiple Analysis Tool) database that has been proven to be reliable. The index has always been based on this methodology. We work meticulously, transaction by transaction, examining documents, analyzing annual reports, reconstituting transactions and building hypotheses.”