Company Valuations

Owner-managed medium-sized companies have no readable stock market value.
A company valuation is therefore not limited to simple calculations.

To determine the decisive value drivers of a company, deep insights into the company and its markets must be taken in order to be able to make future-oriented valuations.
This includes realistic insights such as success factors, integrated financial planning, possible risk premiums and dependencies.

We prepare our valuation assessments depending on the reason for the valuation, the location of the company and the function in which we are active according to the following recognized standards:

  • Capitalized income value method according to IDW, in the latest version
  • Discounted Cash Flow Method (DCF)
  • Multiplier method (peer group comparison)
  • IACVA (International Association of Consultants, Valuers and Analysts, professional association of business valuers (valuation professionals) in Germany)
  • International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) e.g. IAS 36 for impairment tests

 

Our company assessments are regularly created based on the following occasions:

  • Purchase / sale of a company in parts or as a unit (share deal)
  • Purchase or sale of securities due to an asset deal
  • exclusion of shareholders from a GmbH with cash compensation
  • Valuation due to inheritance law disputes
  • Valuation due to family law conflicts

We operate both in the function of a neutral expert as well as in the function of a third-party assessor and, depending on the assignment, are employed in an advisory, mediating or mediative capacity.

 

M&A Consulting

CFE provides certified advisory services within the framework of recognized valuation systems in accordance with client requests for due diligence audits, prepares company value appraisals and continuation forecasts in accordance with the standards of the IDW.
As a result, the client receives verifiable insights and a comprehensible purchase price determination before the purchase or sale of companies (mergers and acquisitions), participations or in case of mergers.
The certified performance competence of CFE guarantees the compliance with common standards according to IDW.
A due diligence uncovers "deal breakers", i.e. facts that could stand in the way of a purchase - e.g. contaminated sites in the case of the purchase of business property or unclarified trademark rights in the case of the purchase of a company.

 

Buy-side due diligence

The potential purchaser of a business initiates the due diligence. He provides the experts he considers necessary (M+A consultants, tax advisors, auditors, experts, etc.) to examine the company to be acquired on his behalf. The result of the due diligence audit is summarized in a report and serves as the basis for further purchase price negotiations and contractual provisions in the purchase agreement as well as for the financing negotiations.

 

Vendors due diligence

The seller of a company himself initiates a due diligence examination to prepare his company for a possible sale.
The advantages are obvious:

  • Preliminary examination of all value-creating factors
  • Timely restructuring for transparent marketing
  • Control during negotiations (by preliminary examination of the relevant due diligence)
  • Transparent and equal level of information for all prospective buyers
  • (Transaction costs and time burden for the seller are significantly reduced)
  • clearly definable number of potential buyers through a reliable company valuation
  • Reduction of the time required and usually a more significant increase in the purchase price
  • Construction | Administration | Support of Data Rooms

 

Due Diligence before an IPO

Another reason for which due diligence reviews are carried out is when a company is about to go public. In this case, an examination of the securities offering in accordance with § 3 WpPG (German Securities Prospectus Act) is required to inform future investors. In the due diligence of an IPO, the completeness and accuracy of the prospectus is essentially checked.

Our audit procedures in the context of due diligence are divided into the following areas:

  • financial due diligence
  • tax due diligence
  • legal due diligence
  • commercial due diligence

 

as well as some project-dependent partial aspects, which can be found in the following areas:

  • dutsourcing due diligence
  • strategic due diligence
  • market due diligence
  • human resources due diligence
  • technical due diligence
  • environmental due diligence