Product Certification Body Valuation: EV/EBITDA & EV/Revenue

A notified body number, an accredited product certification scope and a team of engineers qualified to sign certificates take years to assemble, and for the founder who assembled them they are the work of a career. What a buyer pays for that record depends on how many credible buyers compete for it, and 26 different buyers have bought product certification bodies and notified bodies since 2015. This page covers what product certification bodies and notified bodies have sold for, what moves the valuation and who is buying.

These bodies examine a product type against a standard or an EU directive, issue the certificate, and then keep it valid through factory inspections, sample tests and annual surveillance. Their scope runs from medical devices, machinery, lifts and personal protective equipment (PPE) to equipment for explosive atmospheres under ATEX and IECEx, electrical goods, rail systems and vehicle type approval. This page also covers construction product certification and functional safety assessment of control systems against IEC 61508 and its sector standards. Each new model, revised standard and change in the law sends the same manufacturers back for more work.

We count 41 acquisitions of product certification bodies and notified bodies since 2015, 22 of them since 2021, made by 26 different buyers with targets in 18 countries. Private equity-backed buyers made 24% of them, a smaller share than in certification as a whole. Of the 41 deals, 34 were product certifiers and notified bodies: 8 in electrical, electronic and telecom equipment, including national product marks in Latin America and Canada; 5 notified bodies working across machinery, lifts, electrical equipment and explosive atmospheres, most of them in Italy; 4 in vehicle homologation and type approval; 4 in rail systems; 4 in explosion-protected equipment under ATEX and IECEx; 2 medical device notified bodies; 1 PPE notified body; and 6 in certification marks and schemes, from compostability to IT security under the Common Criteria. A further 6 deals were construction product certifiers, and 1 was a functional safety and cybersecurity certifier.

Only 7 of the 41 deals disclose a value; two publish both EV and revenue and zero publish both EV and EBITDA, so both segment medians show n/a. The nearest reference is certification body valuations as a whole, at a median of 11.8x EBITDA across 5 deals and 2.0x revenue across 7, set against our all-TIC median of 9.9x EBITDA (54 deals) and 1.8x revenue (142 deals), with a median deal size of $13.4M (282 deals) across 2,841 TIC deals.

Product Certification Deal Multiples Compared With the Wider TIC Market

Buyers usually apply the EV/EBITDA multiple to adjusted EBITDA, normalized for one-off items and owner costs.

The five deals with a published EBITDA multiple include some of the largest certification transactions. The $42.8M median rests on 7 disclosed deals, and larger deals disclose more often, so a typical product certifier is smaller and should expect a multiple below the certification median unless several buyers compete for it and it can show a broad designation scope and recurring surveillance revenue.

Many product certifiers also run test laboratories, so the inspection and laboratory records are useful cross-checks. Inspection deals have a median of 9.5x EBITDA (25 deals, middle half 7.5x to 11.5x) and 1.6x revenue (63 deals), and testing laboratory deals 10.1x EBITDA (24 deals, middle half 8.0x to 12.9x) and 2.4x revenue (72 deals). Those two medians sit close to the certification median, and a range built from all three is a reasonable starting point.

We track every product certification and notified body acquisition since 2015, 41 deals by 26 different buyers, so we know which buyers fit a firm like yours and what they have paid.

What Drives a Product Certification Body Valuation

A buyer tests each point below in due diligence. Designations and qualified staff take years to add, so most of the gain comes from work done well before a sale.

Designations and accredited scope. A product certification body is accredited by its national accreditation body to ISO/IEC 17065. To act as an EU notified body it is also designated by a member state authority for a specific directive or regulation, and its number, conformity assessment modules and product codes are published in the European Commission’s NANDO database. Buyers read the scope line by line, because a narrow set of product codes supports a narrow revenue base, and each notified body number, national product mark in Latin America or IECEx acceptance opens a market a buyer may lack. A schedule of every accreditation, designation and acceptance, with the legislation, the modules and codes and the next reassessment date, answers the first round of questions.

Medical device designation. Designation under the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR, 2017/745) or the In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR, 2017/746) is slow to obtain, and manufacturers queue for notified body capacity. Regulation 2023/607 extended the transition for legacy devices to 31 December 2027 for class III and most implantable class IIb devices and to 31 December 2028 for other devices that need a notified body. A medical device notified body therefore holds a contracted pipeline of conversions running into 2028, and its MDR certificates last up to five years with surveillance audits at least once a year. Show the certificate register by device class and expiry date, and the signed agreements still to be converted.

Recurring certificate revenue. A certificate stays valid while the manufacturer keeps paying for surveillance: factory inspections, quality system audits, sample tests and, for certification marks, annual license fees. That income repeats each year, while type examinations of new models arrive one at a time. Changes in the law add waves of work: the EU Machinery Regulation 2023/1230 replaces the Machinery Directive from 20 January 2027, and the new Construction Products Regulation 2024/3110 has applied since 8 January 2026. Split revenue between one-off type examinations and recurring fees, with client retention by year.

Test capability. Many targets combine a test laboratory accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 with the certification body, among them certifiers of electrical and electronic equipment, which keeps type testing and certification under one roof, shortens lead times and adds margin. The laboratory also adds equipment and test rigs that need capital to keep current, so buyers look at how much testing is subcontracted, the age of the equipment and the spending plan.

Qualified people. Each certificate is reviewed and signed off by staff qualified for that product code or standard, and a notified body’s designation depends on keeping enough of them. Buyers count the qualified reviewers and decision makers per code, check how many certificates the owner still signs, and ask who will stay after a sale. A competence matrix mapping each person to the product codes, modules and standards they are authorized for answers this.

Impartiality and structure. ISO/IEC 17065 requires a certification body to identify and manage threats to its impartiality, and the EU framework for notified bodies (Decision 768/2008/EC) requires them to stay clear of activities that could conflict with their independence, consultancy in particular. Where a target combines certification with consulting or engineering services, a buyer checks how the two are separated and may ask for a carve-out before closing.

How we present these to buyers. A buyer pays for what it can see and check. Part of our work in a sale is to present the business as strongly as the facts allow: we set out the designations and scheme approvals, the qualified signatories behind each certificate, and the surveillance work that repeats every year, and we deal with weak points before a buyer finds them and uses them to lower the offer, and a valuation assessment is the place to start, a year or two before a sale.

Who Is Buying Product Certification Bodies

Private equity firms and their platforms made 16% of the 19 deals in 2015 to 2020 and 32% of the 22 since 2021, well below the 41% for certification as a whole, the 60% for inspection and the 42% for testing laboratories. The targets were in 18 countries: 24 in continental Europe, with Italy at 7, Germany at 4 and France and the Netherlands at 3 each; 6 in North America; 5 in the UK and Ireland; 4 in Latin America; and 1 each in Asia-Pacific and in the Middle East and Africa.

The five buyers in the table made 17 of the 41 deals, and all are strategic TIC groups.

For an owner, the table points to TIC groups with broad testing and inspection networks, for which a notified body number or a product mark adds a scope or a country to what they already run. Private equity-backed platforms have become more active since 2021, usually buying a certification body as one step in a wider TIC roll-up, and the two kinds of buyer expect a different role from the owner after completion; see strategic vs financial buyers.

One buyer’s offer tells you what that buyer would like to pay. Offers from several buyers, made at the same time on the same information, tell you what the business is worth. That is what a sale process does, and it is the work we do for owners: talk to us before you reply to an approach.

Selling a Product Certification Body: What a Run Process Changes

An approach usually comes on the buyer’s timetable, on the buyer’s terms and before any rival offer exists to compare it against, so an owner who answers it alone is negotiating with one party. A competitive sale process changes that in four ways, and running it is what we do for owners.

Several buyers bid at the same time. Private equity firms and their platforms made 32% of product certification deals since 2021, and 26 different buyers have bought product certification bodies and notified bodies since 2015. A TIC group such as TÜV Austria or Bureau Veritas and a private equity-backed platform building a certification arm value the same scope differently. Offers that arrive in the same week, on the same information, show what the market will pay.

The process sets the terms of engagement. The timetable, the information each buyer sees and the date offers are due are set for the seller, so competition sets the value and the first buyer’s opening figure becomes one bid among several.

Every term is negotiated while alternatives exist. Cash at completion, any earn-out and what it measures, and how long you and the qualified reviewers who sign certificates stay all move most while a second buyer is still in the process.

The business is ready before the first call. Your schedule of accreditations, notified body designations, scheme approvals and IECEx acceptances, the certificate register, the competence matrix of qualified signatories, your equipment register and the impartiality records. Buyers pay for what they can verify, so we prepare this with you before any buyer is contacted.

Why Product Certification Body Owners Work With Us

We advise owners on sales with typical enterprise values between $5M and $100M, as partners of the Globalscope network. We also advise serial acquirers, which is how we know the way their offers are built and where they leave room.

Recent transactions:

• Advice to Apave on its acquisitions of ISOCERT and De Duurzame Adviseurs.
• Sale of CKSource, the rich-text editor developer, to PSG via Tiugo Technologies, after a global process that drew several letters of intent.
• Advice to Visma on its acquisition of SaldeoSMART.

Sindre Talleraas Holen, M&A Director, Visma: “We were impressed with Marcin’s negotiating skills and Aventis’ ability to make things happen.”

Wiktor Walc, President, CKSource: “Aventis Advisors did the heavy lifting so that our management team could stay focused on our business.”

Talk to Us

If you own a product certification body or notified body, talk to us before you reply to an approach, agree a price or sign a letter of intent. We run competitive sale processes for owners: we prepare the business for buyers, approach the TIC groups and private equity platforms most likely to pay for your designations, accredited scope, certificate base and qualified signatories, bring their offers to a single deadline and negotiate the terms through to closing. Aventis Advisors is a boutique M&A firm advising on transactions with typical enterprise values between $5M and $100M. Write to us at marcin.majewski@aventis-advisors.com. The first conversation is confidential. See also our M&A advisory for TIC companies.

Methodology

The figures cover majority acquisitions, worldwide, of companies whose main business is certifying products and product types against a standard, including EU notified bodies, vehicle homologation and type approval, construction product certification and functional safety assessment, since January 2015. Training providers, consultancies, on-site inspection firms and firms whose main work is testing, which are covered on our testing laboratory valuations page, are excluded.

The deals come from the Aventis Advisors TIC deal database, which combines Mergermarket with acquirer announcements and our own research. EV/EBITDA and EV/Revenue use enterprise value (EV), which is equity value plus net debt; EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. Median deal size uses EV where disclosed, otherwise the disclosed deal value, which is the consideration for the stake acquired; stakes of 51% to 99% count only where an EV is stated. Distressed sales, and multiples outside 1x to 60x EBITDA or 0.05x to 20x revenue, are excluded from the multiples. Most private deals close at undisclosed values, so the deals with a published figure are a small sample. Medians are shown where at least five deals disclose the figure, and ranges where at least ten do. EV/EBITDA is shown where the multiple or the EBITDA was published by the buyer, the seller, filings or a reputable data source; EBITDA derived from a stated margin is excluded. Each deal is counted under the buyer’s group at the time of the deal, and private equity buyers are private equity firms and the companies they owned then. All TIC combines the inspection, testing laboratory and certification deals on our pages, 2,841 since 2015.

Two deals in which most of the value lies in a non-audit business (prequalification software; professional training and membership) are counted in the deal totals, deal sizes and buyer tables but left out of the multiples.