Content
- The Argos Index® rose to 10.1x EBITDA
- Strategic buyers driving multiples higher
- Decline in share of transactions at multiples > 20x EBITDA
- The stock market recovery has not been enough to reduce the disparity between listed and unlisted companies
- M&A activity recovered somewhat, but in the first nine months of 2020, it was still 13% below that of the year-earlier period.
- Germany was the most active eurozone country in terms of SME acquisitions, followed by France and Benelux
Principal conclusions
- The Argos Index® climbed back to 10.1x EBITDA, almost as high as it was prior to the Covid-19 crisis.
- The market was selective, remaining focused on high-quality acquisitions and on the healthcare and technology sectors. Half of the transactions referenced in the Argos Index® were in these two sectors.
- Transactions at multiples in excess of 20x virtually disappeared.
- M&A activity recovered somewhat, but in the first nine months of 2020, it was still 13% below that of the year-earlier period.
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.”