Stout has acquired Financial Research Associates Inc. (FRA) for its Valuation Advisory Group. Read more >>

Many factors can influence the value of a hospital. It is imperative that a business appraiser undertaking these complex assignments is both mindful and understanding of the unique circumstances and nuances inherent in valuation within this industry in order to generate a sound opinion of value. Read more >>

How did surging stock prices affect M&A premiums all buyers paid in 2017? The Mergerstat Review highlights acquisition premiums paid using the seller’s five-day stock price prior to the announcement of the transaction, or essentially the premiums based on the equity value of the seller. Looking at the trends across all transactions, the numerous tables and charts in the Mergerstat Review show that premiums have steadily declined in most of the past five years. Read more >>

After the petitioners in a statutory appraisal action recently lost big, they undertook a multifaceted assault on the Delaware Court of Chancery’s decision to use the unaffected market price as the indicator of value. Their motion for reargument went nowhere. Read more >>

Discover the most important considerations when approaching a fairness opinion and read tips from business valuation experts and attorneys. Explore key factors including the legal framework, due diligence, normalization adjustments, and more. Read more >>

In a complex bankruptcy case involving players in the petrochemical industry, the court trained its eyes on the management projections underlying a merger that led to the formation of a company that went bankrupt only a year after the close of the transaction. Read more >>

Management projections are the sine qua non of a discounted cash flow analysis, and, in a recent statutory appraisal action involving the pet product giant PetSmart, the Delaware Court of Chancery found they did not cut the mustard. The court called the projections, “at best, fanciful,” and concluded the most accurate measure of fair value was the merger consideration. Read more >>

The AHLA Transactions Resource Guide is a free collection of articles from leading healthcare experts that discuss significant transaction issues in the healthcare industry. Some of the authors are with Duff & Phelps, VMG Health, Wipfli, and others. Read more >>

The business judgment rule has featured prominently in a number of recent breach of fiduciary duty cases in front of the Delaware Court of Chancery. Under the rule, the court must not interfere in a transaction if a majority of the minority shareholders approved the deal and the vote was “uncoerced and fully informed.” Read more >>

A press release from law consulting firm Altman Weil provides multiple takeaways for business valuation professionals, all of which indicate that law firm mergers and acquisitions are poised to continue in historic numbers. The industry trend is toward acquisition as the favored method for established firms to find new business. Read more >>

There were 1,536 healthcare M&A transactions in 2016, up 1% from 2015, but overall spending dropped to $255.7 billion from $400.3 billion in 2015, according to data from Irving Levin Associates Inc. Read more >>

It was another busy year in 2016 for law firm M&As, according to a release from Altman Weil, which tracks this activity. BVR has a new installment in its series of What It’s Worth special reports: What It's Worth: Law Firm Value. This will help you better understand the special considerations when valuing a firm of this kind. Read more >>

In a statutory appraisal action, the Delaware Court of Chancery recently found the deal price did not reflect fair value because the sales process was suboptimal. Certain other methods the parties' experts used also were inadequate to the task, the court said. Read more >>

Urgent care is a particularly hot sector amid the race to finalize healthcare M&A transactions before the end of the year. Read more >>

In reviewing one of the Delaware Court of Chancery's most noteworthy rulings from 2015, one judge on the state Supreme Court wrote a stinging critique of the trial court's analysis. Read more >>

BVWire provides a few key takeaways from the recent annual business valuation conference of the New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA) in New York City. Read more >>

A number of M&A records were broken in 2015, including net M&A announcements (12,012), $100 million-plus deals (1,197), cash payments (78%), average P/E offered (29.6), and more, according to the 2016 Mergerstat Review. Read more >>