"the purchase price of $344 million represents a valuation multiple of approximately 10.7 timesexpected 2016 EBITDA."
https://www.thestreet.com/story/13946595/1/mars-to-buy-vca-in-9-1b-deal.html
"Raymond James analyst Nicholas Jansen said the enterprise value of the deal represents an adjusted 2016 Ebitda multiple of a little more than 18 times. This is at a premium to recent private equity multiples in the animal hospital space (12-13x), reflective of the company's robust lab franchise, which we always argued was underappreciated in the market," Jansen wrote in a note on Monday."
Transaction was done at 10.7 x EBITDA in USA for 56 vet hospitals. Transaction was done at a little more than 18 times EBITDA for VCA which has 800+ vets and hospitals and laboratory diagnostic labs. Private equity are paying 12-13 times EBITDA in the animal hospital space. All of these are happening in the USA, and goes to show the value of Greencross. A potential acquirer of Greencross will be Mars, if Mars do want to join the growth in pet care in Australia. If Greencross share price keeps languishing at these levels that we've seen, maybe we should email Mars company and get them to take over Greencross. They can pay $8 for the company (and meanwhile, I think GXL should at least be trading around $6 to reflect the 30% control premium that an acquirer may pay for.