So-called fairness opinions are not as much fair as they are a method to shift responsibility from a corporate board to that of an “independent” investment bank. The latest example of a fair value shell game was pointed out by The Wall Street Journal. It involved Lazard’s value analysis of SolarCity. The company was acquired by Tesla Motors, an organization with related ownership interests that has been called into question. In this case, the investment bank made a $400 million arithmetic error – but this oddly didn’t impact the company valuation. Welcome to the new world of accounting where increasingly 2 + 2 = 6.
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