Purpose of a Fairness Opinion by an independent firm:

• Documents the results of the valuation process and the financial issues that were taken into consideration.
• Provides the buy side or sell side fiduciaries (board of directors or board of managers) with a written opinion that the value arrived at is fair from a financial point of view.
• Does not opine that the transaction is the best deal available, only that the subject transaction is fair from a financial point of view.
• Provides tangible evidence that can be used in litigation to demonstrate that the fiduciaries acted reasonably and on a well-informed basis.
• Provides transaction insight to fiduciaries from a source that is unbiased by transaction or other performance commission.

Private and public companies are referred to Marshall & Stevens by outside legal counsel and other trusted advisors to provide independent Fairness Opinions for their important transactions.

If there is a concern that even one shareholder may challenge the controlling shareholder(s), management, board of directors, or board of managers – claiming that a transaction being pursued results in unfair treatment to minority shareholders, then a Fairness Opinion should strongly be considered to protect the decision makers.