Amicable composition

Amicable composition (amiable composition) is a form of dispute resolution in which a third party — an arbitrator acting as amiable compositeur or a mediator — is not strictly bound by legal rules and may decide on the basis of equity and what appears fair in the circumstances. It is sometimes specified in shareholders' agreements or sale contracts for financial disputes where strict legal formalism would be counterproductive. The amiable compositeur's decision is contractually binding and focuses on finding a balanced, commercially sensible outcome rather than mechanically applying the law.

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Example: a shareholders' agreement for a Franco-Swiss SME provides that any dispute on the value of shares at exit will be submitted to an amiable compositeur, a financial expert jointly appointed by both parties. A valuation gap of CHF 5.5 million vs CHF 7.2 million is resolved at CHF 6.4 million, taking into account recent performance trends and market uncertainty — a result both parties accepted as commercially reasonable.

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Hectelion accepts mandates as financial amiable compositeur in valuation disputes, providing balanced and documented conclusions.