BUYER POOL ANALYSIS
Selling a Consulting to Strategic / Industry buyers
Industry operators, larger competitors, and corporate buyers acquiring for synergies, geographic expansion, or capability fill. Typically pays a premium for clear strategic fit but discounts for integration cost and overlap.
Quick answers
- What multiple does this buyer pool pay?
- Median EV/EBITDA 11.46x across 15 disclosed deals (P25: 6.54x, P75: 14.55x). Median EV/Revenue 2.05x across 49 deals. Median deal value: $57.51M.
- How many disclosed transactions?
- 49 deals total (49 from 2018+), filtered to Strategic / Industry acquirers of consulting businesses.
- Most active buyers
- Intertek Group plc (2) · IPH Limited (2) · Inotiv, Inc. (2) · Applus Services, S.A. (:APPS) (2) · Cosmecca Korea Co., Ltd. (1) · Greenwich Associates LLC (1)
Recent disclosed deals
Strategic / Industry acquisitions of consulting businesses with named target, named acquirer, and disclosed financials.
| Year | Target | Acquirer | EV | EV/EBITDA | EV/Rev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Englewood Lab, Inc. | Cosmecca Korea Co., Ltd. | $28.7M | 5.5x | 1.09x |
| 2025 | Mckinsey Pricemetrix Co. | Greenwich Associates LLC | $38.0M | — | 3.45x |
| 2025 | Walsh Engineering Services, Inc. | Transcat, Inc. | $84.0M | — | 3.82x |
| 2024 | Base Metallurgical Laboratories Ltd. | Intertek Group plc | $29.9M | — | 5.03x |
| 2024 | Bereskin & Parr LLP/S.E.N.C.R.L., s.r.l. | Smart & Biggar IP Agency Co. | $61.9M | 7.5x | 1.38x |
| 2024 | Lucas Public Affairs, LLC | Public Policy Holding Company, Inc. | $7.5M | — | 1.15x |
What this buyer pool prices for
Strategic buyers — operators in adjacent geographies, larger competitors, or corporate consolidators — price for synergies and capability fill. They tend to discount integration cost and overlap risk but pay above market when there's clear strategic fit (key customer relationship, license, geography, technician/professional team). Multiples are competitive with PE for fee-viable deals; below PE for sub-scale acquisitions.
Methodology note
Multiples shown are computed from disclosed M&A transactions in the ExitValue.ai database, filtered to consulting businesses acquired by strategic / industry 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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