Acuity Advisors

Many Possible Outcomes, One Right Result.

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Valuation Advisory

Owners, CFOs, and Boards trust Acuity’s rigorous and insightful valuation process to help them make informed, defensible decisions.

Valuation: One Right Result

In any valuation, there can be an array of technically correct final answers. We predicate our work on the belief that what we do best is what clients value most, and that is our ability to go beyond the numbers to bring a level of insight and understanding that yields the one right result.

That right result means everyone walks away satisfied. Owners accomplish their goals, stakeholders understand the impact, and final valuation is airtight and defensible.

Learn more about valuations for:

Boards of Directors

Fairness Opinions

When a minority shareholder dissents, a successful transaction is at risk. A fairness opinion increases the likelihood that the board of directors’ decision will be insulated by the business judgment rule. We are a trusted independent investment bank free of conflict of interest with expertise in advising corporate boards during heightened scrutiny. We provide fairness opinions for the following situations:

  • Recapitalizations
  • Multiple offer situations 
  • Mergers & acquisitions
  • Spin-offs, split-offs & carve-outs
  • Going private
  • Issuance of new equity

Solvency Opinions

We undertake solvency opinion engagements in highly levered transactions for recapitalizations, buyouts, dividend distributions, and spin-offs. 

Many possible outcomes, one right result.

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We provide an independent expert opinion on the borrower’s ability to remain solvent post financing and to continue to operate as a going concern. All stakeholders benefit from an independent financial expert’s opinion on solvency through the lower risk of fraudulent conveyance claims and potentially lower cost of funding on more acceptable terms. 

Chief Financial Officers / Controllers 

We help CFOs navigate various SEC and GAAP reporting requirements with minimal disruption and distraction. Our team builds trust through a diligent and analytical process that CFOs can depend on year after year. We have prior experience in international accounting and investment banking firms and professionals in our firm have frequent informal communications with valuation professionals in the big-four and other regional accounting firms to identify issues affecting public and private companies.

The large accounting firms have scrutinized virtually all the valuation work related to financial reporting in the following areas:

  • Purchase price allocation (ASC 805)
  • Goodwill impairment testing (ASC 350)
  • Stock-based compensation (ASC 718)
  • Lease accounting (ASC 842)
  • Embedded derivatives and complex securities (ASC 815)

Business Owners

Business owners want to maximize value while securing the future of the company, employees, and customers. Our role is to help owners make the best decisions for themselves, their family, and their company’s future by honoring that goal and our commitment to an open, transparent, and thoughtful process that they can trust.

Private Equity Funds and Asset Managers

An increasing number of Private Equity sponsors are taking the extra step of hiring an independent valuation firm to assure investors and regulators that valuations are unbiased. Fund managers must be aware of actual or perceived conflicts of interest in related party transactions. Private Equity Funds trust Acuity as a third party to provide independent advisory services for financial, tax, and portfolio reporting purposes. Our work will stand up to increasing scrutiny from investors, auditors, GPs, and regulatory agencies.  

Acuity can deliver a spectrum of services assisting asset managers in determining and reporting fair value. We will work with you to deliver an approach specific to the situation, including positive assurance, range of values, and point estimates. We incorporate practical guidance regarding industry standards such as the Private Equity Industry Group Guidelines (PEIGG) and International Private Equity Valuation (IPEV) guidelines.

Trustees

For decades, Acuity Advisors has supported ESOP trustees by providing fairness opinions, valuation opinions, and other financial advisory services. Whether we are supporting an initial transaction, annual updates for administration purposes, second stage or follow on transactions, or assistance with sustainability, we deliver advice and analysis that helps trustees make informed fiduciary decisions. 

Accounting Professionals

We provide auditors with a simple, turnkey solution for work auditors can no longer perform under Sarbanes-Oxley, while maintaining confidence that their client relationships will stay intact. We involve the auditors and their valuation teams early and often, particularly in up-front discussions, to establish buy-into the valuation methodologies and framework we utilize. We find that doing so saves all parties substantial time and effort and makes the process much more efficient. We have a rigorous internal process to ensure that the valuation analysis is supportable, well documented, and consistent with existing guidance available to the valuation profession.

Estate and Tax Planning Professionals

We consider all relevant rulings, including Internal Revenue Ruling 59-60, 1959-1 CB-237, which specifically applies to estate planning, as well as Internal Revenue Ruling 93-12, which allows the application of minority interest discounts to assets owned by family members. Our valuation experts are knowledgeable about the most recent applicable tax court cases, legislation, and related revenue rulings. Our services include:

  • Valuation discount studies
  • Family limited partnership (FLP) interests
  • Tenant-in-common interests
  • Limited partnership (LP) interests
  • Gift and estate tax planning and reporting
  • Valuation in support of imminent domain

We have provided expert witness and post-transaction dispute resolution solutions that required determination of compensatory damages for:

  • Ownership disputes
  • Bankruptcy/solvency
  • Breach of contract
  • Valuation in support of eminent domain

*Certain Investment Banking Services through: Edgewater Capital, LLC Member FINRA/SIPC

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There are many possible outcomes, but one right result for your vision and goals.

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