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Fairness Opinions A fairness opinion, by definition, is a letter prepared by an experienced investment banker, or business appraiser, that states whether or not a transaction'from a financial point of view'is fair. The fairness opinion speaks to the ?fairness? of the financial terms of a transaction, as of a specific date, and given a set of assumptions.1 ?Fairness? in this context, parallels the notions of unbiased, impartial, and just. As denoted by the colloquial term ?fair play? or the business phrase ?an arm's length transaction,? a fairness opinion represents whether a deal is fair to shareholders, particularly a company's minority shareholders, all material matters and circumstances considered.
Expert guidance on fairness opinions from the experts at Standard & Poor’s The Standard & Poor’s Guide to Fairness Opinions examines fairness opinions from a fiduciary’s perspective. It details important differences between income, market, or cost approaches in rendering an opinion; provides insights into capital structure complexities; describes techniques for achieving vital synergy in the fairness analysis; and more.
It is accepted practice that a dissenting stockholder is entitled to receive the intrinsic value of his share in a going concern. Additionally, while no one methodology represents the means by which to value what a stockholder is entitled to receive, it is clear that a liquidation value is not appropriate in most going concern valuations.
From 1994 to 2003, 80% of targets and 37% of acquirers obtain a third-party assessment of the fairness of a merger or acquisition. These fairness opinions do not affect deal outcomes when used by targets, but they affect deal outcomes when used by acquirers. The deal premium is lower in transactions if the acquirer obtains a fairness opinion, and further reduced if multiple advisors provide that opinion. However, the acquirer's announcement period return is 2.3% lower if the acquirer has a fairness opinion, especially if the acquirer pays a high premium, indicating that investors are skeptical of these transactions.
Fairness opinions have their origin in the United States' mergers and acquisitions practice, but in recent years have also been used in Europe. Fairness opinions can best be defined as an investment banker's assessment of the financial 'reasonableness and equitableness' of a proposed offer for the target company's shareholders. In this clearly written book, Mr.Parijs investigates within the Dutch legal context how and why fairness opinions arise and what they might mean. His concentration lies primarily on fairness opinions of tender offers. Dutch legal literature contains very little on fairness opinions. This book makes the subject accessible to Dutch legal professionals and academicians. One particularly useful aspect of this study is that the author not only makes interesting legal comparisons to important tenets of civil, corporate and securities law, but also to economic theories and valuation methods.
Overview Any corporate transaction involving an existing or potential conflict of interest may become the subject of litigation initiated by minority shareholders.1 In such case, directors may be called upon to prove that all aspects of the transaction were fair to the corporation and its shareholders. Directors may, however, be able to shift this burden of proof away from themselves and to the minority shareholders/plaintiffs if they have taken certain steps to ensure the fairness of the transaction.2 One important step is the establishment and use of a properly functioning Special Committee comprised of independent and disinterested Board members empowered to negotiate the transaction.3