Debt and options
Lotus Amity values other aspects of a company’s financing, for example debt and options. Debt and options valuations are sometimes required in shareholder disputes, for tax purposes and to allow the valuation of the balancing ordinary shares.
Debt valuations include an assessment of the loan note terms, guarantors, other loans and financial covenants. Debt is typically valued through modelling cash flows and discount rates. Debt valuation issues include:
- assessing the likely risk of the borrower defaulting on repayments
- in a default situation, assessing the likely amount to be recovered
- the yield spread for similar securities
Option valuations include an assessment of the share prices, vesting conditions, volatility and expiration and dividend yields. Valuations include the use of an option pricing model, such as the Black-Scholes model.
Experience
Examples of debt and option valuation engagements include the following:
- Valuation of the loan notes held in a renewable electricity supplier. Lotus Amity analysed the issuers operations, loan note terms, guarantors, debt service and repayment risk, security, subscription and pricing, financial covenants, quarterly performance, budget and forecast, cash and assets values, risk-free rates and market yield spreads.
- Valuation calculation of a parties’ vendor finance and associated income stream arising from a contract of sale of shares in a related company. Lotus Amity prepared a single expert report calculating the net present value of the income stream in accordance with the valuation approach agreed by the parties. The report assessed the share sale agreement, vendor finance deed, security agreement, the current and future streams of income, the expected cessation, and modelled a discount rate considering the default risk and the recoverability of the debt.
- Valuation of the fair value of employee Zero Exercise Price Options together with the expected number to vest for financial reporting purposes. Lotus Amity analysed the agreements and long-term incentive plan rules, treatment of options for leavers, vesting dates and conditions, the intrinsic option values, volatility and expiration, risk-free rate, dividend distribution, exercise dates and dividend yield.