When valuing an owner’s interest in a closely-held company, the calculation and applicability of a discount for lack of marketability is among the most fertile grounds for sharp disagreement. One open question: should the DLOM account for any contractual restrictions on a controlling owner’s ability to transfer his or her control?
Continue Reading Fueling the DLOM Debate: Control Transfer Restrictions and the Discount for Lack of Marketability

This week’s New York Business Divorce travels to the Land of 10,000 Lakes a/k/a Minnesota where a recent court decision in a high-stakes stock valuation case generated some fairly sharp criticism of the expert appraisers whose values differed by almost 400%.
Continue Reading Appraisers’ Valuations Are Light-Years Apart, But Does That Make Them Hired Guns?

In the second of two posts on the recent post-trial decision in Chiu v. Chiu, involving the disputed ownership of a single-asset real estate holding company, this week’s New York Business Divorce focuses on the court’s rejection of a discount for lack of marketability in determining the fair value of the withdrawing member’s 10% interest.

Continue Reading Court Rejects Marketability Discount in LLC Fair Value Case

An appellate ruling last month in DeMatteo v. DeMatteo Salvage Co. brings to a close the cautionary tale of an 8-year court battle among members of a family-owned business over the enforcement of a poorly designed buy-sell agreement. It’s in this week’s New York Business Divorce.

Continue Reading An Ill-Fated Solution to an Ill-Fated Buy-Sell Agreement

The discount for lack of marketability is a fixture in New York fair value jurisprudence as a result of almost 30 years of case law starting with Matter of Blake. Some prominent voices in the business valuation field are challenging the doctrine as wrong in theory and bereft of empirical support. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.

Continue Reading The Marketability Discount in Fair Value Proceedings: An Emperor Without Clothes?