2014 was a good year for the European private equity; indeed, it experienced a revival, number of deals rising a 20% according to PWC’s Private Equity Trend Report 2015. In particular, there was an increased number of mega-deals (valued over 1bn €), as well as the number of deals over 500m € and under 15m €. The value of the transactions was also higher, increasing a 46%.
In reference to the lower middle market, the evolution of EV/EBITDA multiples has been quite linear since 2009, but there has also been a rise in 2014, according to Pursant’s newsletter M&A Insider. More specifically, the average multiple has been 6’7x, resulting from the average multiples of the different segments by size. Indeed, size is very critical when evaluating a company, since the bigger a company, the higher the multiple.