BUYER POOL ANALYSIS
Selling a Ag Services to Private Equity / PE-Backed Roll-Up buyers
Private equity firms and PE-backed platform consolidators acquiring for roll-up, add-on, or platform plays. Pricing tends to lead the market for fee-viable scale, with multi-bidder competitive processes above the EBITDA floor.
Quick answers
- What multiple does this buyer pool pay?
- Median EV/EBITDA 8.64x across 8 disclosed deals (P25: 7.61x, P75: 15.44x). Median EV/Revenue 2.8x across 10 deals. Median deal value: $662.61M.
- How many disclosed transactions?
- 10 deals total (1 from 2018+), filtered to Private Equity / PE-Backed Roll-Up acquirers of ag services businesses.
- Most active buyers
- Paine Schwartz Partners, LLC (1) · Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (1) · CVR Partners, LP (1) · Bayer CropScience Aktiengesellschaft (1) · CVR Nitrogen, LP (:RNF) (1) · BHP Group Limited (1)
Recent disclosed deals
Private Equity / PE-Backed Roll-Up acquisitions of ag services businesses with named target, named acquirer, and disclosed financials.
| Year | Target | Acquirer | EV | EV/EBITDA | EV/Rev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | AgroFresh Solutions, Inc. | Paine Schwartz Partners, LLC | $558.0M | 9.4x | 3.39x |
| 2016 | Monsanto Company | Bayer Aktiengesellschaft | $62655.7M | 17.3x | 4.79x |
| 2015 | CVR Nitrogen, LP | CVR Partners, LP | $767.3M | 9.8x | 2.44x |
| 2012 | AgraQuest, Inc. | Bayer CropScience Aktiengesellschaft | $425.0M | — | 10.63x |
| 2012 | Agrifos Fertilizer L.L.C. | CVR Nitrogen, LP (:RNF) | $236.8M | — | 1.51x |
| 2010 | Nutrien Ltd. | BHP Group Limited | $41907.7M | 18.9x | 8.52x |
What this buyer pool prices for
Private equity acquirers price for scale and roll-up arbitrage. They pay up for businesses that fit a platform thesis — recurring revenue mix above 30%, technician/professional depth, clean financials, and a management layer that survives integration. The same ag services can command 1.5x to 2x the multiple of an individual-buyer transaction simply because the PE buyer is acquiring a platform piece, not an owner-operated shop.
Methodology note
Multiples shown are computed from disclosed M&A transactions in the ExitValue.ai database, filtered to ag services businesses acquired by private equity / pe-backed roll-up 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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