the median of six deals is the mark — one buyer who reached does not move it.
Your MD wants a precedent read on the target before Monday’s committee. Six deals in the space are already on the page with what was paid and the LTM EBITDA behind it. Compute the multiple paid on each deal, take the median across the set, then mark the target at that multiple and bridge it down to implied equity value. TEV is transaction enterprise value — the equity paid plus the debt assumed.
Alt walks: tap Alt, release, then the letters in sequence — each key steps one ribbon menu. On a Mac, tap ⌥ and use the same letters (KeyTips, Excel 2024+).
Shift+↓⇧↓ on macExtend selection one cell
Ctrl+D⌘D on macFill down from the cell above
Build the logic once in the top cell, select down, and stamp it — the standard way to fill a schedule.
Ctrl+B⌘B on macBold
Bold marks structure: titles, total rows, anything the reviewer’s eye should land on first.
Alt h b p⌥ h b p on macTop border
Top border above a total row — the accounting ruling that says “this line sums the ones above.”
functions you'll type: MEDIAN()
the par-setting sequence, straight through:
multiple G5 → =E5/F5 · select G5:G10 · ctrl+d · G12 → =MEDIAN(G5:G10) · E16 → =E15*G12 · E18 → =E16-E17 · ctrl+b · alt h b p · ctrl+s