Recent cases undertaken by Parmentier Arthur involving out-of-the-ordinary circumstances.
Most of our valuation assignments can be described as routine – routine in the sense that the underlying circumstances giving rise to the need for a valuation are relatively commonplace (shareholder dispute; divorce; tax determined). Occasionally we are asked to value shares or intangible assets in circumstances which in our experience do not conform to the run-of-the-mill.
Examples of such instructions recently confirmed are covered briefly below and give perhaps a different perspective on the broad spread of our work:
- We have been appointed to provide a shadow valuation of a company where a valuation had already been provided to the Court by another valuer appointed, as quite often occurs in such circumstances by the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, as expert whose opinion of value was binding on both parties unless “manifest error” could be shown (see earlier Newsdesk blog “Call an expert” for a general discussion on the role of the expert witness). Our client is seeking to overturn the expert’s opinion on this basis as the valuation handed down is considered to be outrageously optimistic.
- We have been appointed to value a “special share”, before its issue, which is designed to restrict the actions of a company’s directors in a specific set of circumstances to protect the interests of a third party.
- We have been appointed to value the goodwill in a long-term care home (see “Goodwill to all men – part 2” concerning to trade-related properties for background) which required us to develop an innovative approach to the valuation to ensure that the trade-related property restrictions did not prevent a reasonable value being ascribed to the free goodwill.
In the past we have also helped to resolve internal difficulties with an internationally-renowned rock band, valued the unique intellectual property attaching to wine storage facilities and valued an online gaming company.
Sometimes valuation can also be fun!