Two companies have the exact same financial profiles and are bought by the same acquirer, but the EBITDA multiple for one transaction is twice the multiple of the other transaction – how could this happen?

Possible reasons:

1. One process was more competitive and had a lot more companies bidding on the target.

2. One company had recent bad news or a depressed stock price so it was acquired at a discount.

3. They were in industries with different median multiples.