BUYER POOL ANALYSIS
Selling a Wholesale Distribution to Individual / Owner-Operator buyers
Owner-operators, SBA-financed independent buyers, and smaller management buyouts. Pricing reflects what an individual can finance (typically 10-25% down + SBA 7(a)) and operate hands-on. Below typical PE engagement size.
Quick answers
- What multiple does this buyer pool pay?
- Median EV/EBITDA 11.1x across 7 disclosed deals (P25: 8.54x, P75: 11.9x). Median EV/Revenue 0.67x across 12 deals. Median deal value: $208M.
- How many disclosed transactions?
- 12 deals total (12 from 2018+), filtered to Individual / Owner-Operator acquirers of wholesale distribution businesses.
- Most active buyers
- DNOW Inc. (1) · Public Markets (IPO) (1) · VSE Corporation (1) · Ilustrato Pictures International Inc. (1) · Greenlane Holdings, Inc. (1) · 2737920 Ontario Inc. (1)
Recent disclosed deals
Individual / Owner-Operator acquisitions of wholesale distribution businesses with named target, named acquirer, and disclosed financials.
| Year | Target | Acquirer | EV | EV/EBITDA | EV/Rev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | MRC Global Inc. | DNOW Inc. | $1810.0M | 8.5x | 0.58x |
| 2025 | Medline Inc. (IPO) | Public Markets (IPO) | $39000.0M | 11.1x | 1.40x |
| 2024 | Kellstrom Aerospace, LLC | VSE Corporation | $205.1M | — | 1.15x |
| 2022 | Georgia Fire Rescue Supply, LLC | Ilustrato Pictures International Inc. | $0.9M | — | 0.26x |
| 2021 | Merger Sub Gotham 2, LLC | Greenlane Holdings, Inc. | $135.0M | — | 1.55x |
| 2020 | Nors Construction Equipment ST | 2737920 Ontario Inc. | $210.9M | 12.5x | 0.74x |
What this buyer pool prices for
Individual buyers — owner-operators, SBA-financed independents, smaller management buyouts — price for what they can finance (typically 10-25% down with SBA 7(a) loans up to $5M deal value) and operate hands-on. Multiples are below PE / strategic because the buyer is taking the owner-operator role, not stepping in as institutional capital. Owner-dependency and seasonality matter more here than to a PE buyer.
Methodology note
Multiples shown are computed from disclosed M&A transactions in the ExitValue.ai database, filtered to wholesale distribution businesses acquired by individual / owner-operator buyers. EV/EBITDA outliers outside the [0.5x, 60x] band and EV/Revenue outliers outside [0.05x, 25x] are excluded from medians. Where available, post-2018 transactions are weighted; otherwise the all-time sample is used. Deal counts shown reflect deals with disclosed financials only — total transaction count for this buyer pool is typically 2-3x larger. Full methodology
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