Business Acquisition Multiples in Australia — SME, Mid-Market & Corporate M&A

Glenclair Financial | Business Acquisition Market Commentary

The short version

Enquiries around business acquisition finance have picked up materially through 2026, driven by baby boomer succession, corporate professionals buying their first business, and trade and services operators consolidating competitors. That volume has kept multiples firm across most sectors, though the range within each industry has widened, buyers are paying full price for well-run, well-documented businesses and discounting hard for anything with thin records or key-person risk.

Multiples scale with size. A $1 million EBITDA trades business and a $15 million EBITDA services platform sit in entirely different pricing bands, driven by buyer pool (owner-operators versus private equity and strategic acquirers), access to institutional debt, and the quality of earnings expected at each tier. Below is a practical guide to where multiples are sitting across the SME, mid-market and corporate segments.

SME Segment (EBITDA up to ~$2 million)

The SME segment is dominated by owner-operator buyers, funded through a mix of bank debt, personal equity and vendor finance. Multiples here are most sensitive to key-person risk and the quality of the owner's financial records.

• Trades & services (electrical, plumbing, HVAC, cleaning): 2.0x – 3.5x EBITDA
• Retail (independent, non-franchise): 1.5x – 3.0x EBITDA
• Hospitality (cafes, single-site restaurants): 1.5x – 3.0x EBITDA
• Professional services (accounting, bookkeeping, advisory): 2.5x – 4.0x EBITDA, often priced partly on recurring client fees rather than EBITDA alone
• Allied health & medical (single-clinic): 3.0x – 4.5x EBITDA
• Agribusiness (owner-operated farms and ag services): 3.0x – 4.5x EBITDA

At this end of the market, a clean set of financials and a genuine vendor handover period can move a business from the bottom to the top of its range faster than almost any other single factor.

Mid-Market Segment (EBITDA ~$2 million – $20 million)

This is where private equity, family offices and larger strategic acquirers start competing alongside well-capitalised owner-operators, and where private credit becomes a meaningful part of the funding stack alongside major and regional banks.

• Manufacturing: 4.0x – 6.0x EBITDA
• Business services (B2B, outsourced services, facilities): 4.5x – 6.5x EBITDA
• Healthcare & allied health (multi-site groups): 5.0x – 7.5x EBITDA
• Construction & trade roll-ups: 4.0x – 5.5x EBITDA
• Technology & SaaS (profitable, recurring revenue): 6.0x – 10.0x EBITDA, often priced on ARR multiples for high-growth assets rather than EBITDA
• Hospitality groups (multi-site pubs, hotels): 4.0x – 6.0x EBITDA, see our dedicated pub EBITDA multiples guide for the detail
• Wholesale & distribution: 3.5x – 5.5x EBITDA

Worked example: a mid-market business services group with $6 million in maintainable EBITDA, strong recurring revenue and a management team beyond the founder is realistically priced at $27M–$39M (4.5x–6.5x). A version of the same business with revenue concentrated in two customers and no management depth would likely sit at the bottom of that range, or lower.

Corporate Segment (EBITDA $20 million+)

At the top end, private equity, listed strategic acquirers and institutional investors dominate, and multiples are driven as much by platform quality, growth trajectory and sector thematic as by current-year earnings.

• Established industrials & manufacturing platforms: 6.0x – 9.0x EBITDA
• Healthcare platforms (multi-site, institutional-grade): 8.0x – 12.0x+ EBITDA
• Technology & software platforms: 8.0x – 15.0x+ EBITDA, with significant variation by growth rate and recurring revenue quality
• Consolidated trade & services platforms (PE-backed roll-ups): 7.0x – 10.0x EBITDA on exit, reflecting the scale and management infrastructure built through consolidation
• Infrastructure-adjacent & data centre services: 9.0x – 14.0x+ EBITDA, supported by long-duration contracted revenue

Corporate-scale deals are typically funded through a blend of senior bank or private credit debt, mezzanine or subordinated tranches, and sponsor equity, with debt structuring and covenant negotiation becoming as important to the outcome as the headline multiple itself.

What's Actually Moving Multiples in 2026

• Succession volume — a wave of baby boomer owners exiting is increasing supply in the SME and lower mid-market, which has kept pricing rational rather than overheated.
• New buyer pool — corporate professionals and first-time buyers entering the market with strong personal balance sheets are supporting demand at the smaller end.
• Recurring revenue premium — across every segment, contracted or subscription-style revenue is commanding a clear premium over one-off or project-based revenue.
• Private credit depth — private credit funds continue to compete hard for mid-market and corporate deals, giving buyers more structuring flexibility than bank debt alone.
• Earnings quality scrutiny — lenders and buyers alike are normalising EBITDA more conservatively than a few years ago; aggressive add-backs are being pushed back on more often.

Why the Multiple Is Only Half the Story

The multiple a business trades on determines the price. What determines whether the deal actually gets funded, and on what terms, is the debt structure behind it. The same business at the same multiple can be financed at very different cost and gearing depending on how the deal is packaged and which lenders are approached.

Glenclair Financial is an independent commercial finance brokerage, we run full banking tenders across 60+ lenders, from Big Four and regional banks through to specialist financiers and private credit, to secure acquisition finance on the best available terms across the SME, mid-market and corporate spectrum.

If you're buying, selling, or benchmarking a business against current market multiples, get in touch, we can talk through where your transaction sits and what funding structure supports it.