Q4 2020 saw North American M&A volume of 3,874 transactions and total deal value of $549.9 billion.
Within the industrial sector, there were 255 transactions in Q4 2020, compared to 274 transactions in Q4 2019, representing a 7% decrease from last year. The sector had 816 total transactions in 2020 compared to last year’s total of 1,028—a substantial decrease of 21% largely due to effects of COVID-19.
Public Company Performance
Public company EV/EBITDA multiples continue to increase with a median industrial multiple of 13.3x in Q4 2020 compared to a median multiple of 12.2x in Q3 2020. The median EV/EBITDA multiple in Q4 2019 was 12.4x.
After Q4 2020, four out of six industrial sub-sectors have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past five years. The two sub-sectors that returned below the S&P 500 are Plastic & Packaging and Aerospace & Defense.
