From the Inside Out.
"Reliable valuations require more than formulas — they require a deep understanding of markets, cash flows, risk, and business strategy."
— Finerio Advisory Team
Business & Financial Reporting Valuations
Independent, defensible valuations of businesses, intangible assets, and financial instruments — for transactions, financial reporting, regulatory purposes, and governance decisions.
What Is Valuation — In Plain Language
A valuation is an independent assessment of what a business, asset, or financial instrument is worth. The word sounds simple — but valuation is one of the most technically demanding disciplines in finance, requiring both rigorous quantitative analysis and well-founded professional judgement about assumptions, risk, and market context.
Valuations are needed in many contexts: to agree a fair price in a transaction; to comply with IFRS financial reporting requirements (purchase price allocation, goodwill impairment, fair value measurement); to support a legal dispute; to satisfy a regulator; or to inform a board decision about a major investment or disposal. In each context, the methodology, the supporting evidence, and the independence of the valuer matter enormously.
Finerio valuation practice applies IFRS 13 and internationally recognised valuation methodologies — DCF analysis, market multiples, income approach, cost approach, and option pricing models — producing valuations that are rigorous, clearly documented, and defensible under auditor and regulatory scrutiny.
The Three Core Valuation Approaches
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Income Approach (DCF) – Values the business based on the present value of future cash flows it is expected to generate — discounted at a rate that reflects the risk of those cash flows materialising. This is the most theoretically rigorous approach and is typically the primary method for established businesses with predictable cash flows.
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Market Approach (Multiples) – Values the business by comparing it to similar businesses that have been sold or are publicly listed — applying earnings multiples (EV/EBITDA, P/E) derived from comparable transactions or listed peers. Provides a market-calibrated reference point that tests whether the DCF result is consistent with current market pricing.
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Cost / Asset Approach (NAV) – Values the business based on the fair value of its underlying net assets — the value of what it owns less what it owes. This approach is most relevant for asset-heavy businesses, investment holding companies, and real estate entities where the value is driven primarily by the balance sheet rather than earnings power.
Business & Enterprise Valuation
Independent valuation of a business as a going concern — for acquisition, disposal, shareholder dispute, management buyout, or strategic planning purposes. We apply income, market, and asset-based approaches, reconcile the outputs, and produce a valuation report that sets out the methodology, assumptions, and conclusion in clear, auditable terms.
Purchase Price Allocation (PPA)
When you acquire a business, the total purchase price must be allocated across all identifiable assets and liabilities at their acquisition-date fair values under IFRS 3. We perform the full PPA exercise — identifying and valuing acquired intangible assets (customer relationships, technology, brand, licences), determining the fair value of tangible assets and liabilities, and calculating residual goodwill.
Goodwill Impairment Testing
Goodwill is not amortised under IFRS — instead, it must be tested for impairment at least annually. We structure and execute IAS 36 impairment reviews — defining Cash Generating Units (CGUs), calculating recoverable amounts using Value-in-Use (VIU) and Fair Value Less Costs of Disposal approaches, conducting sensitivity analysis, and preparing full audit-ready impairment documentation.
Intangible Asset Valuation
Many of the most valuable assets a business owns are intangible — its brand, its customer base, its technology, its intellectual property, its licences. We value intangible assets for PPA purposes, for standalone transactions, for financial reporting, and for transfer pricing — applying relief-from-royalty, multi-period excess earnings, and cost approach methodologies appropriate to each asset type.
Fair Value for Financial Reporting
IFRS 13 requires many balance sheet items to be measured at fair value — financial instruments, investment properties, biological assets, share-based payments, and contingent consideration. We determine and document IFRS 13-compliant fair values, assign the correct Level 1, 2, or 3 hierarchy classification, and prepare the disclosure workpapers auditors rely on to sign off on complex fair value measurements.
Shareholder & Equity Valuation
Valuation of individual shareholdings — for buy-out of minority shareholders, family business disputes, estate planning, divorce proceedings, or equity award pricing. We apply control and marketability discounts where appropriate, assess whether a control premium applies, and produce a valuation that is fair, technically sound, and clearly reasoned — suitable for use in negotiations or legal proceedings.
Independent. Integrated. In Your Corner.
What makes Finerio Deals & Advisory practice different — and why it matters for your transaction.
Financial Reporting Depth Others Lack
Our advisory team combines deal experience with deep financial reporting expertise — IFRS, accounting standards, audit methodology, and tax. This means our due diligence findings are grounded in accounting reality, our valuations are audit-defensible from day one, and our financial models are built on numbers that actually reconcile to the balance sheet. Pure deal advisors without accounting depth miss things we don't.
Truly Independent Advice
We do not earn transaction fees contingent on deals completing. Our income does not depend on a deal happening — which means our advice is genuinely independent. We will tell you when a deal does not make financial sense, when a valuation is unrealistic, or when due diligence has surfaced risks that should be deal-breakers. True independence is rare in M&A advice. It is the foundation of what we offer.
Specialist at the Right Scale
The Big 4 deliver excellent transaction services — at a cost and pace that often does not work for mid-market UAE transactions. We bring the same analytical rigour, technical standards, and quality of advice at a scale and commercial model that works for transactions between AED 10 million and AED 2 billion. Our clients get senior attention, not a team of juniors.
UAE & GCC Market Knowledge
UAE M&A, valuations, and restructuring operate in a specific regulatory, commercial, and cultural context — free zone structures, family business dynamics, UAE CT and VAT implications of deal structures, DIFC and ADGM frameworks, and the specific requirements of UAE capital markets regulators. Our practice is built on this market, not adapted from a global template.
Questions we hear from clients every week.
Plain-language answers to the most common questions about M&A, due diligence, valuations, capital markets, and restructuring advisory.
EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortisation. It is the most widely used measure of a business's operating profitability in M&A — because it strips out the effects of financing decisions (interest), tax structures, and non-cash accounting charges (depreciation and amortisation), leaving a proxy for the cash profit generated by the core business. Most businesses in M&A transactions are valued as a multiple of EBITDA — for example, "8x EBITDA" means the buyer is paying eight times the annual operating profit of the business. The critical issue, however, is which EBITDA number is used — sellers typically present an "adjusted" or "normalised" EBITDA that excludes one-off costs and adds back non-recurring items. A key output of financial due diligence is independently verifying and challenging that normalised EBITDA figure.
Enterprise Value (EV) is the total value of the business as a whole — the price you would pay to acquire 100% of the business debt-free and cash-free. It represents the value of the underlying business operations. Equity Value is the value of the shareholders' stake in the business — i.e., what you actually pay for the shares in a transaction. The relationship is: Equity Value = Enterprise Value − Net Debt (debt minus cash). If a business has an enterprise value of AED 100 million and net debt of AED 20 million, the equity value — the price paid for the shares — is AED 80 million. Understanding this distinction is fundamental to structuring and pricing any M&A transaction correctly.
The working capital peg is the agreed "normal" level of working capital (current assets minus current liabilities) that the business needs to operate — and that the buyer expects to be in the business at completion. If the business is delivered with more working capital than the peg (a surplus), the seller receives additional consideration. If delivered with less (a shortfall), the buyer receives a price reduction. Getting the peg right — based on a thorough analysis of historical working capital seasonality and trends — is one of the most commercially significant aspects of deal structuring. A peg set too high hands the seller a windfall; too low hands it to the buyer. Disputes about working capital are among the most common post-closing conflicts in M&A, and they are almost always resolved in favour of the party with better financial analysis.
A Purchase Price Allocation (PPA) is required under IFRS 3 — Business Combinations — whenever one company acquires another. The total price paid for the acquisition must be allocated across all of the identifiable assets and liabilities of the acquired company at their fair values on the acquisition date, with any residual amount recorded as goodwill. This is not optional. If you have acquired a business and are preparing IFRS financial statements, you are required to have performed a PPA. Many UAE businesses complete acquisitions and then record everything as goodwill — which is incorrect under IFRS 3 and will be challenged by external auditors. Identified intangible assets (such as customer relationships, brand, and technology) must be separately recognised and amortised, which affects future reported profits. We perform PPAs that are technically rigorous, auditor-ready, and completed within the 12-month IFRS 3 measurement period.
The answer is almost always: earlier than you think. A UAE IPO on the DFM or ADX requires a minimum of 3 years of audited IFRS financial statements, a Working Capital Report confirming sufficient liquidity for 12–18 months post-listing, and a financial reporting infrastructure capable of meeting the ongoing obligations of a listed company. Building this from scratch typically takes 18–36 months. Businesses that begin the process 6 months before their intended listing date consistently encounter delays, discover historical accounting issues that need to be restated, and face the pressure of compressing a multi-year preparation into an unrealistic timeline. An IPO readiness assessment — understanding precisely what gaps exist between your current financial infrastructure and listing requirements — is the most valuable first step, and the earlier it is taken, the more options management has to address the findings.
Financial restructuring is a voluntary process — the company and its creditors agree to modify the terms of existing obligations (extending maturities, reducing interest rates, converting debt to equity, or partial write-offs) to give the business a sustainable capital structure and a genuine opportunity to recover. It is conducted out of court and is the preferred outcome for all parties, because it typically preserves more value than formal insolvency. Insolvency is a formal legal process — initiated when a company is unable to pay its debts as they fall due or when its liabilities exceed its assets — governed in the UAE by Federal Law No. 9 of 2016 on Insolvency (as amended). Insolvency involves court proceedings, the appointment of official administrators or trustees, and a structured realisation of assets for the benefit of creditors. Financial restructuring, when pursued early and with credible financial analysis, avoids insolvency in the majority of cases. The earlier restructuring conversations begin — ideally before covenant breaches or missed payments — the wider the range of available options and the better the outcomes for all parties.
Valuation multiples in the UAE vary significantly by sector, business quality, growth profile, and market conditions — and there is no single "right" multiple. As a general framework: high-quality recurring-revenue businesses (technology, healthcare, professional services) typically trade at EV/EBITDA multiples of 8x–15x or more. Industrial and trading businesses with stable but less differentiated cash flows typically range from 4x–8x EBITDA. Real estate and asset-heavy businesses are often valued on a net asset value (NAV) basis rather than earnings multiples. Early-stage or high-growth businesses without stable EBITDA are typically valued on revenue multiples or discounted future cash flow. UAE-specific factors — free zone structures, reliance on key-person relationships, concentration of revenue with a small number of customers, and the absence of a long track record of IFRS-compliant financial statements — can all compress multiples relative to comparable businesses in more developed markets. Our valuations are grounded in observable market data and adjusted for business-specific factors with transparent, documented reasoning.
Working on a deal or raising capital?
Whether you are buying, selling, raising funds, restructuring, or simply need an independent valuation — our Deals & Advisory team is ready to help. No obligation — just a focused conversation about your situation.