Market capitalisation is the total market value of a listed company's shares, calculated by multiplying the number of shares outstanding by the current share price. It represents shareholders' equity as valued by the market and serves as the reference in listed comparable valuations. It is distinct from enterprise value (EV), which adds net financial debt to obtain total economic asset value. For unlisted companies, the market capitalisation of comparable peers serves as a reference, adjusted by an illiquidity discount.

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Example: a SIX-listed Swiss company has 5.0 million shares outstanding at CHF 42.0 per share — market capitalisation of CHF 210.0 million. With net debt of CHF 35.0 million, its enterprise value is CHF 245.0 million. Applied to EBITDA of CHF 28.0 million, this gives an EV/EBITDA multiple of 8.75x, used as a sector reference for unlisted company valuations with an appropriate illiquidity discount.

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Hectelion uses market capitalisations of listed comparables as market anchors in multiple-based valuations, with justified adjustments for unlisted company discount.