American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of US Industry in India

Breakfast Meeting – Smart Business Infrastructure – Mergers, Acquisitions, Valuations & Other Business Services – 15th September 2016

A breakfast meeting was held on 15th September 15 in Chennai featuring guest speakers Mr. Piyush Patnaik, Vice President, Duff and Phelps and Mr. N. Santosh, Director, Duff and Phelps. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Aubrey Daniels, Regional Director – Tamil Nadu Chapter, AmCham.

Duff and Phelps provides services to companies, when an objective and independent assessment of value is required. The range of services include finance and accounting expertise, combined with the use and development of sophisticated valuation methodologies to fulfill even the most complex financial reporting and tax requirements. Constant monitoring of the changing regulations provides consistent inputs to the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board as they develop implementation guidance and new financial reporting rules with valuation implications. Tax valuations and related consulting services in accordance with the regulations and guidance established by the Tax authorities. The valuation opinions are fully defensible and documented to withstand scrutiny from the SEC or other regulatory bodies.

Mr. Piyush Patnaik added that, “Business valuation is impacted by a multitude of factors such as the subject company’s industry, its stage of development and the source of the invested capital. Additionally, the variety of purposes for which business valuations are performed, the influence of local jurisdictional rules and available valuation methods further increase the complexity of business valuation.”

He added, “Many have described business valuation as both an art and a science.” The scientific and analytical aspect employs a variety of approaches or methods applied not only to the subject of the valuation itself, but also to the development of certain inputs into the measurement (e.g. cost of capital, discounts and premiums). The most commonly used valuation methods include the cost, market or income (DCF) approaches. While the cost approach may be applied on occasion, the income and market approaches are by far the most commonly utilized in business valuation. The income approach measures value based upon the present value of future cash flows of the business enterprise, while the market approach relies upon the application of market multiples of comparable companies or comparable transactions to the subject company. The art of a valuation lies in the ability to apply these tools in an effective manner, utilizing professional judgment. This type of insight is gained over years of experience across the spectrum of company life cycles, industries, jurisdictions, and valuation purposes, and also calls for a deep understanding of regulators’ and other stakeholders’ requirements and expectations.

Mr. N. Santosh of the advisory team said that his team advises public corporations, financial sponsors, family-owned businesses and other private companies in middle-market buy side and sell side M&A transactions. He mentioned that some of their key strengths included senior staff engagement throughout every transaction; experience, including more than 300 M&A transactions in the past five years and #2 ranking for 2015 middle-market transactions; track record of exceeding or meeting preliminary valuation ranges 89.8% of the time in our last 50 transactions; global reach, including dedicated M&A professionals in the U.S., Canada, UK, Ireland, China and in India since 2015; dedicated industry expertise; financial sponsor coverage and access to the global private equity community; and breadth of in-house corporate finance and financial advisory services, which significantly enhance the M&A processes and outcomes for clients.

He said that they provide services unencumbered by audit independence concerns and offer seamless analytical service throughout the deal continuum, from decision support at origination to deal closing and beyond. Combining market data with fundamental financial competencies, they support critical decision making with essential advice and information.

The services provided include merger and acquisition financial, tax, information technology and human resource due diligence to private equity, hedge fund and strategic investors. Mr. Santosh said that they advise on all aspects of the investment cycle employing an approach that focuses on value drivers and deal-breakers that are critical to investment decisions some of which include: financial due diligence; quality of earnings (QoE); tax due diligence; information technology due diligence; independent business plans review (IBR) and segment reporting assistance.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.