Portfolio Valuation

Appraisal Economics values privately held businesses, business interests, and non-traditional illiquid assets for a variety of purposes, one of which is “portfolio valuation.” Private equity funds, hedge funds, pension funds, and other institutional investors are required to periodically report the values of their portfolio investments to their investors under FASB’s ASC 820 and other standards. Although many asset managers have the ability to perform this “mark to market” analysis themselves, investors, funds, and regulators are increasingly moving toward the use of independent valuation experts to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

We have performed periodic appraisals of investments held by private equity firms, as well as a range of other valuation services for institutional investors. Our private equity clients have included AEA Investors, Ares Management, Avista Capital, Bain Capital, Blackstone Group, Berkshire Partners, Catterton Partners, Lindsay Goldberg, and Technology Crossover Ventures, among others. Our assignments have included the valuations of preferred and common equity, convertible debt, floating rate municipal bonds, tangible and intangible assets, options, and complex derivatives.

We tailor our portfolio valuation engagement to suit the needs of each client, and we can provide our opinion in several forms: (i) negative assurance, that is, a review to ensure that the value prepared by the asset owner is not unreasonable; (ii) positive assurance, that is, a review to ensure that the value prepared by the asset owner is reasonable; (iii) an independently concluded range of fair value; or (iv) an independently-concluded fair value in the form of a single number. One of our competitive advantages is that we often provide the solvency opinion, fairness opinion, or purchase price allocation that initiates the recording of the asset on the balance sheet. By having Appraisal Economics perform the subsequent portfolio valuations, there is a consistent methodology, and we are already familiar with the assets, leading to a more efficient process.

To learn more about portfolio valuation, please read our presentation on the topic, or Contact Us.