Two companies in each of five segments. Ask the right questions. Put a number on the table.
The Deal Atlas · Best and Final
These companies are fictional composites, built from proprietary middle-market deal data.
They are not real businesses or specific transactions. Nothing here is investment advice or
an offer to buy or sell any security. This is an educational game.
Play anonymously.
The Brief
Steel isn't one market. It's five.
Multiples in this sector track one thing above all others: how far a company sits from the
commodity. A structural fabricator bidding projects and a certified shop qualified into a
defense program are not the same business, and buyers do not price them alike.
Structural fab
Service center
Toll processing
Precision fab
Certified spec
You will see two companies in each segment, back to back, under the same comps. How far
apart they price is the whole lesson. In steel the segment sets the starting point, and
the company sets everything after.
You're the buyer. Each deal is all-cash. You'll see the financials, where comparable
companies trade, and a set of diligence questions. What you learn from those questions is
the difference between a fair price and a bad one.
Round one is your indication. Come within 15% of where the deal cleared and you
advance. Miss low and the field moves on.
Round two is best and final. The banker will push. Within 10% and you win clean.
Reach too far and you win, but you'll see exactly what you overpaid.
Comps are a starting point. In steel, they are rarely the answer.
Questions or comments
Tell us what you think, or what we got wrong.
Optional. Nothing is required to play.
The Deal Atlas — The middle market, mapped.
Deals are anonymized composites of real middle-market steel transactions. All multiples are
stated on normalized, through-cycle adjusted EBITDA; steel earnings are highly cyclical and
unadjusted multiples mislead. Comps reflect private middle-market transactions, not public
company trading levels, which run materially higher. Figures are directional, not advice. We see anonymous traffic data. We see your email only if you send it.