Q4 2020 saw North American M&A volume of 3,874 transactions and total deal value of $549.9 billion.
Within the Business Services sector, there were 305 transactions in Q4 2020, compared to 258 transactions in Q4 2019, representing an 18% increase from last year. The sector had 927 total transactions in 2020 compared to last year’s total of 1,058—a substantial decrease of 12% largely due to effects of COVID-19.
Public Company Performance
Public company EV/EBITDA multiples have bounced back toward 2019 levels with a median Business Services multiple of 9.2x in Q4 2020 compared to a median multiple of 8.4x in Q3 2020. The median EV/EBITDA multiple in Q4 2019 was 9.4x.
After Q4 2020, Facilities Services and Logistics are the only two out of six Business Services sub-sectors that have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past five years.
