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M & A ebitda multiple question

M&A
New answer on Oct 23, 2020
1 Answer
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Anonymous A asked on Aug 23, 2020

I have a question on ebitda multiple in M & A case. I am quite confused on how to do the multiple method in solving for fair price.. Could I get step by step approach in solving via a multiple method?

Regarding this case, is acquisiton price same as enterprise value? Which metrics did they use to determine whether to disregard ebitda for some companies?(Resturant Tracker (too big), Japan Accounting (wrong market), and Quick Web (too small)) Also, in M & A case, do I also look at sales multiple also like the solution below? Thanks.

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Anonymous replied on Oct 23, 2020

EBITDA is a pretty straight forward method to value a business (determine the price you're going to pay for it). It is typically used as a high-level estimation when a company is not listed (as opposed to Enterprise value).

To do that, you are looking for comparables. The theory is that - absent of any adverse indications - the company is comparable to a set of companies within a narror range of conditions. The market, the size of the company, a narrow business definition.

To do it practically, you'd pick a comparative set and apply the same ration between EBITDA and acquisition price as a ballpart indication. That's why in this case you need to exclude the company in Japan and the company that is nearly 20x the size. After that you can use the average of other multiples to estimate the price for this company.

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