Business Valuation
HbK Valuation Group, LLC
HbK Valuation Group, LLC offers comprehensive services to client businesses ranging from sole proprietorships to large privately held companies. We prepare independent, reliable and balanced valuation analyses and reports for a wide variety of applications:
Mergers and acquisitions
Buy-sell agreements
Divorce settlements
Employee Stock Option transactions
Built-in-gain analysis for conversion to C-Corp or S-Corp status
Stock option analysis
Goodwill impairment
Valuation of professional practices
Estate and gift taxes
Expert testimony and litigation support
Bankruptcy proceedings
Charitable contributions
FLP and LLC holdings of real estate or market securities
Purchase price allocations – SFAS 141
Valuation of intangible assets
Blockage discount analysis
Our professionals follow standardized procedures to ensure comprehensive and well-supported analyses. Each valuation engagement is unique and based on the business or ownership interest being valued. The valuation procedure adopted for a particular engagement is determined by the purpose of the valuation and the financial/operating characteristics of the company involved.
Valuation Procedures
Generally, the following steps are involved in an HbK Group valuation:
- We contact you or your advisors to discuss the purpose of the valuation, interest to be valued, standard of value, valuation date to be used, project deadlines and preliminary company/industry description and basic financial information.
- We submit an engagement letter that describes the services we will provide, the fee for the assignment and the deadline by which final valuation reports will be submitted.
- We prepare an information request list specific to the company being valued, the industry it operates in, and our review of the preliminary financial information.
- On receipt of the requested information, we review and analyze the information and start our preliminary analysis and reporting.
- We schedule a management interview either by telephone or a company visit to talk with key personnel about the company, its products and services, the firm’s recent history and development, industry-specific factors including the competitive environment, earnings and cash flow prospects and expectations, underlying asset values, business/financial risks and key employee profiles.
- Based on our selection of appropriate valuation approaches, discounts or premiums applied and reconciliation of values indicated by various methods, we prepare a detailed analysis and preliminary valuation draft report. On further discussion with the client, and after any additional revisions, we issue a final, bound valuation report.
- We work closely with you to ensure our valuation reports are fully understood and will be responsive to your needs for any further discussion or additional services, even several years after an initial engagement.
Valuation Reports
- Full or Comprehensive Report – an opinion of value of the business or ownership interest. Findings are supported by extensive research, analysis and documentation.
- Calculation Report – an approximate indication of value based on limited information and analytical procedures as agreed upon by the client.
- Fairness Opinions – a professional evaluation as to whether the terms of a merger, acquisition, buyback or spin-off are fair. The fairness opinion does not include an opinion of value, but only whether we believe that the offer received by the company is fair for its shareholders from a financial perspective. In this analysis, we evaluate the total consideration being offered, the company’s past history and outlook, the prices at which similar businesses have sold and any additional investment characteristics of the company. We then issue a fairness opinion letter stating whether or not the transaction is fair to the minority shareholders of the company.
- Critique of Another Appraiser’s Report – a review and rebut of a valuation report prepared by another appraiser. As such, this service does not include us rendering an opinion of value of the business or interest being valued.