How valuations are quoted locally
US businesses are usually priced on SDE for Main Street businesses, EBITDA for lower middle market, and results are reported in US dollar (USD).
- Main Street transactions are commonly quoted as a multiple of SDE, inclusive of normal working equipment and excluding inventory.
- Lower middle market deals move to EBITDA multiples once earnings support a management layer.
- Buyer financing availability strongly influences achievable prices at the smaller end.
- Asset sales dominate small transactions; stock sales are more common as deal size grows.
Who buys businesses here
- Individual buyers using acquisition financing
- Search funds and independent sponsors
- Strategic acquirers and PE-backed platforms
What commonly reduces the price
- State-level licensing and lease assignment can gate a sale.
- Add-backs must be documentable; unsupported add-backs get stripped in diligence.
Whichever market you are in, the underlying discipline is the same: normalise earnings, apply several methods, and weight them by how well each fits the business. See our twelve valuation methods for the full detail.