BUYER POOL ANALYSIS
Selling a Farming 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 10.02x across 9 disclosed deals (P25: 6.51x, P75: 12.41x). Median EV/Revenue 0.92x across 10 deals. Median deal value: $206.14M.
- How many disclosed transactions?
- 11 deals total (1 from 2018+), filtered to Private Equity / PE-Backed Roll-Up acquirers of farming businesses.
- Most active buyers
- Dole plc (1) · Banco Safra S.A. (1) · Arlon Group LLC (1) · LWP Capital Inc. (:LXWK.F) (1) · Nuseed Americas Inc. (1) · IKO Enterprises Limited (1)
Recent disclosed deals
Private Equity / PE-Backed Roll-Up acquisitions of farming businesses with named target, named acquirer, and disclosed financials.
| Year | Target | Acquirer | EV | EV/EBITDA | EV/Rev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Dole Food Company, Inc. | Dole plc | $300.0M | 9.6x | 0.42x |
| 2014 | Chiquita Brands International, Inc. | Banco Safra S.A. | $1314.2M | 13.1x | 0.43x |
| 2013 | Alico, Inc. | Arlon Group LLC | $149.0M | 13.0x | 2.77x |
| 2012 | St. Hilaire Seed Company, Inc. | LWP Capital Inc. (:LXWK.F) | $15.0M | 4.1x | — |
| 2011 | Seeds 2000, Inc. | Nuseed Americas Inc. | $55.2M | — | 2.76x |
| 2011 | Sun Gro Horticulture Canada Ltd. | IKO Enterprises Limited | $206.1M | 10.3x | 1.08x |
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 farming 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 farming 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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