Shareholder/partner disputes can be highly sensitive and complex. Shareholder disputes often involve a minority owner who believes he/she has been mistreated or disagrees with decisions made by the controlling owner. Occasionally, such disagreements can be too important to resolve peacefully and lead to costly and time-consuming litigation. The commotion caused by such a dispute can be disruptive for management and, therefore, have a deleterious effect on a business's value. Often, these disagreements lead to a minority shareholder or business partner to exit the company. If a conflict among business partners intensifies to such an extent, that the continuation of the enterprise may be compromised, buying out one of the parties may be a solution. During this buy-out process, the valuation of the shares of the enterprise becomes an important issue. Reaching an agreement between the parties regarding valuation and other financial issues can be particularly challenging. Business valuation experts often play an important role in resolving shareholder disputes by providing independent and unbiased opinions of value for the shares in question. It is crucial to retain business valuation experts who not only have a broad range of analytical and investigative skills, but who also bring to the table the ability to create a compelling, independent case. VSI has extensive experience working with business owners and their legal counsel as independent valuation experts where negotiations have either commenced or have broken down so that litigation has been initiated.
