Questions from business owners

Between 5,000 and 40,000 CHF in Switzerland and between 3,000 and 30,000 EUR in France for a full multi-method valuation, depending on the size of the company and the intended use of the report. An online estimate through Acontos is free. Every engagement is covered by a written mandate after a scoping conversation with no obligation.

The last three audited financial years, the most recent interim accounts, the detail of debt and cash, the order book and the key contracts. We send a full list at the start; the earlier the documents are available, the shorter the timeline.

From 2 to 4 weeks for a red flag review, and 4 to 8 weeks for a full due diligence on an SME. The deciding factor is not the size of the target but the quality of its data room.

When a decision-making body has to justify that a price is fair to minority shareholders, to a court or to a regulator: a public offer, a related-party transaction, a contested shareholder exit, an internal merger. It is not mandatory in every situation, but it protects the directors.

Most often on success: 3% to 5% of the value below 5 M, tapering above that. A retainer or a monthly fee may be added to cover execution, and it is then credited in full against the success fee at closing.

Yes. A confidentiality undertaking is signed before any information is exchanged, and the counterparties we approach sign one in turn before receiving any identifying detail. The first contact with the market is always anonymous.

Yes, it is the heart of our practice. We work with both accounting and tax frameworks, and we regularly handle French and Swiss files that require the two to be reconciled within a single transaction.

With a 30-minute conversation, free and without obligation, to understand your situation and the intended use of the deliverable. We then send you an engagement letter setting out scope, timetable, deliverable and fees. No work begins before your written agreement.

Always. We handle the financial side and coordinate our work with your lawyer, your trustee or your accountant, without taking their place. It is often that coordination which prevents blind spots.

On a transaction mandate the success fee is not payable: that is the very principle of this fee structure. Retainers and fees already due remain earned, because they pay for work carried out. On a valuation mandate, the deliverable is payable regardless of what happens to the transaction.

External costs directly linked to the engagement: travel, access to comparables databases, data room fees, translations. They appear in the engagement letter either as a fixed amount or as a capped percentage, and are evidenced on request. No unforeseen disbursement is added part way through a mandate.

It is the document that governs the offer phase: it tells potential buyers the timetable, the expected format of offers, the information to provide and the rules of the process. We prepare it at the offer step and you approve it before anything is sent. It protects the seller by putting every counterparty on an equal footing.

As the work progresses, by milestones defined in the engagement letter: generally a payment on launch, an interim payment when the draft report is delivered, then the balance on delivery. You never pay in advance for an engagement that has not started.

Yes, that is the sum-of-the-parts approach. It becomes necessary when the activities have very different risk or growth profiles, when only one division is to be sold, or when a buyer is interested in part of the business only. It requires extra work to allocate shared costs, which we flag at the scoping stage.

Yes, provided it is documented and transferable: written procedures, technical records, configurations, training of the teams. Know-how that exists only in the owner's head has no market value, since it does not survive their departure. Formalizing it before a sale is often the most profitable investment in terms of value.

Yes. We carry out the valuation work that underpins it and coordinate with the licensed auditor where the law requires one, in particular for a contribution in kind under Swiss law. This is best handled early: financing conditional on a certificate generally adds two to three weeks to the timetable.