Method · Valuation
Is the price you were given defensible?
A buyer rarely receives a valuation; they receive a number. A second opinion tests it against a traceable method, before your offer anchors on a value that will not hold.
What is at stake
Where the value actually moves.
An SME valuation fits on one line: an EBITDA, a multiple, a price. A second opinion checks what really moves the value.
- The earnings base. Recurring EBITDA, adjusted once: not the raw accounting figure, and not a prudent figure discounted twice.
- The multiple for the right size. The sector multiple for the right revenue bracket. A micro-business does not trade at the multiple of a structured SME.
- Equity value, not enterprise value. Net of financial debt: loans and leases, less cash on hand.
- The total cost of the acquisition. Price, the seller's shareholder loan, working capital requirement, fees: everything you must fund at closing.
Frequently asked questions
About the valuation second opinion.
An independent, critical review of the price retained for a business you plan to acquire. We do not rebuild a valuation from scratch: we test yours, or the one you were given, against a transparent method: an adjusted EBITDA base, a size-adjusted multiple, the walk from enterprise value to equity value, the total cost of the acquisition. Then we flag where the number is fragile.
From versioned sector reference tables, broken down by revenue bracket, where every figure carries a named source: valuation firms' published grids, transaction barometers (Dealsuite, the CNCC-Epsilon Observatory), Banque de France data for working capital. The multiple of a one-million-euro micro-business is not that of an eight-million-euro SME: the size effect is built in, not averaged out.
Its purpose is not to lower the price but to put it on defensible ground. Sometimes it confirms the announced value and secures your offer; sometimes it reveals an overstated EBITDA, a multiple with no size discount, or a forgotten net debt, and opens a documented renegotiation. Either way, you anchor your decision on traceable reasoning.
Take the next step
A number to challenge before you sign?
The second opinion on an existing analysis is on the published fee schedule, as a firm flat fee. Or start a full analysis of the file directly if the data room is open.