Share and equity valuations for healthcare businesses

A share or equity valuation is an independent opinion of what one interest in a healthcare business is worth: shares in a practice or service company, units in a unit trust, or a share of a partnership. It starts with the value of the whole business, deducts net debt and adds surplus assets to reach equity value, then values the interest by its rights, its control and how readily it could be sold. Medival prepares them for buy-ins, exits, restructures, disputes and estates.

Most business valuations ask what the whole business is worth. A share or equity valuation asks what one holder's interest is worth: what it entitles that holder to receive and to decide under the constitution, trust deed or partnership agreement, any shareholders or unit holders agreement, and the Corporations Act 2001 where it applies.

The subject may be shares in a practice or service company, units in the unit trust that owns an allied health practice, or a partner's share of a pharmacy or veterinary partnership, each carrying different rights to income, capital and control. The same shareholding may be valued at market value for a tax event, under a contractual formula for an exit, or at fair value in a dispute, so Medival states the basis of value, the valuation date and the interest at the outset. See independent business valuations.

Enterprise value is the value of the operating business before its financing. Medival assesses future maintainable earnings, the profit the business can sustain once earnings are normalised (owner-specific, non-market and non-recurring items removed, market-rate remuneration charged for every working owner), then capitalises them at a multiple reflecting the risk and growth prospects of the business: the capitalisation of future maintainable earnings method. A discounted cash flow, projecting cash flows and discounting them to a present value, suits a business whose earnings are expected to change materially; a net assets approach suits one whose earnings do not support a value above its assets. Comparable transaction evidence tests whichever is adopted. See what is maintainable earnings and healthcare business valuation methods.

Equity value is what the owners' interests are worth after financing: enterprise value less net debt (borrowings, equipment finance and amounts owed to shareholders or related parties, less cash), plus surplus assets, meaning assets not needed to earn the maintainable earnings, such as an investment property, excess cash or a loan owed to the company by a shareholder. A capitalised earnings value also assumes a normal level of working capital, the debtors and stock needed to trade less trade creditors, so a balance well above or below that level is adjusted at the same step.

A constitution and any replaceable rules take effect as a contract between the company and each member and between the members themselves, so the first question is what this holder can receive and decide. Where more than one class of share exists, the class rights must be set out in the constitution or approved by special resolution, and equity value is allocated between the classes before a value per share is derived.

Shareholders and unit holders agreements add rights the accounts do not show, and they decide who could buy the interest and on what terms. Pre-emptive rights require an exiting holder to offer it to existing holders first, often at a formula price or a price set by an independent valuer, and the replaceable rules give shareholders in a proprietary company a comparable right on a new issue. Drag-along rights let a majority require minority holders to sell alongside them; tag-along rights let minority holders join a sale on the same terms; and directors of a proprietary company may be able to refuse to register a transfer.

A contractual formula produces the number the formula produces, whether or not it matches market value: the price a hypothetical willing but not anxious buyer and seller, both fully informed and neither compelled to act, would agree at the valuation date. Fair value is different again, defined for financial reporting in accounting standard AASB 13 and carrying other meanings in agreements and legal proceedings; which basis applies is a question for your lawyer, and Medival states the basis adopted. Price also differs from value: what was paid on an earlier transfer can reflect one buyer's position and terms, so it is evidence, not a conclusion.

A controlling interest can appoint directors, set remuneration, decide distributions and sell or restructure the business; a minority interest cannot. Between them sits influence: a parcel large enough to block a special resolution, or a swing holding between two evenly matched owners, can be worth more than its size suggests.

Whether a pro rata share of equity value already reflects control depends on the evidence behind the method. Capitalising maintainable earnings on evidence from sales of whole businesses produces a control value, from which a discount for lack of control may be applied to reach a minority basis; where the evidence comes from minority holdings, a control premium may be added for an interest carrying control. How far any adjustment goes depends on voting power, the rights in the agreement, the distribution history and the purpose, and an agreement or an order may direct that discounts be applied or excluded.

A discount for lack of marketability reflects the difficulty and cost of turning the interest into cash. Shares in a private healthcare company have no ready market, transfer restrictions narrow the buyer pool, and ownership rules narrow it further wherever only practitioners may hold an interest: in New South Wales a person must generally be a registered pharmacist to hold a financial interest in a pharmacy and may hold an interest in no more than five. See pharmacy valuations. Medival explains any discount or premium with reasons rather than a rule of thumb.

Many healthcare businesses separate the practice from a service entity: a trust or company controlled by the practitioners or their associates that supplies staff, administration, premises and equipment to them for a service fee. A doctor buying into a medical centre usually buys shares or units in that entity, not a share of the other doctors' billings, so value turns on the number and stability of the practitioners paying fees and the profit left after the entity's own costs. Because the buyer will also pay those fees, the share price and the fee rate must be read together. See medical practice valuations.

An associate dentist or physiotherapist usually buys into the practice entity itself, so the valuation separates transferable goodwill, the patients, referrers, systems and location that stay with the practice, from personal goodwill attached to individual practitioners, including the buyer. See does a medical practice have transferable goodwill.

Buying into an entity is not the same as buying a business and its assets: registrations, leases, employment obligations and past tax positions stay with the entity, and so with everyone who owns it. Revenue NSW ruling PTA 041, for example, treats contracts under which practitioners serve patients on a medical centre's behalf as relevant contracts for payroll tax, and it applies to dental clinics, physiotherapy practices and radiology centres as well. An exposure of that kind belongs in due diligence, in the warranties and, where it cannot be resolved, in the price. Confirm your own position with your accountant and lawyer.

A minority holder's return is what is actually paid. Under section 254T of the Corporations Act 2001 a dividend may only be paid where assets exceed liabilities by enough to cover it, the payment is fair and reasonable to shareholders as a whole, and it does not materially prejudice the company's ability to pay its creditors. Subject to that, payment is decided under the company's own rules; a unit trust distributes under its deed and a partnership under its agreement. Medival examines whether the history of dividends, distributions and drawings reflects the economics of the business or the preferences of those in control.

A conclusion is expressed at a valuation date and relies on what was known or reasonably foreseeable then, not on hindsight. That date is often fixed by the agreement, an order or a tax event, and the same interest can carry a different value at each. See valuing a healthcare business for a shareholder exit.

A share or equity valuation is an opinion at a date, for a purpose, on the information available. It is not a legal interpretation of the constitution, deed or agreement: where clauses are contested, Medival values on stated assumptions and your lawyer should confirm which reading applies.

Minority holders often have less information than those in control. Members can inspect the share register and the minute books and request a copy of the constitution, but wider inspection of the books generally requires a court order. Where information is incomplete, Medival states what was relied on and how the gaps affect the conclusion.

A valuation prepared for one purpose should not be reused for another without review: the basis of value, the date and the treatment of discounts may differ. Nothing on this page is legal, taxation or financial advice.