Getting the Second Bite: How PE Partnerships Can Outperform a Full Sale
The Offer on the Table An unsolicited call comes in from a private equity-backed platform, or a strategic buyer in the industry, and the number attached is real. For a business owner who has spent years building a company, the temptation to sign and be done is immediate and understandable. The instinct is to treat […]
Continuation Vehicles Have Diversified. Fairness Opinions Have Not Kept Pace.
For the first time in four years, fund managers moved more secondary volume than the investors seeking to exit them. Secondary transactions in private markets reached a record $121 billion in the first half of 2026, according to Evercore data reported by Bloomberg. Manager-led transactions, primarily continuation vehicles, accounted for 54% of that volume. The […]
FASB Finalizes New Rule on Contractual Sale Restrictions: Final Implications for Locked Token Valuations
An Update to Houlihan Capital’s July 2026 Review of ASU 2022-03 September 20, 2026 On September 9, 2026, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU 2026-03, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Contractual Sale Restrictions, finalizing the proposal it introduced for public comment in July 2026. In our July write up, we examined that proposal and […]
SPAC Fairness Opinions in 2026: What Changed and Why It Matters
The SPAC market in 2026 and the renewed case for independent fairness opinions The blank check structure has returned to the public markets on very different terms than it left them. Roughly 140 SPAC IPOs priced in 2025, and issuance has continued to build through the first half of 2026, on terms that bear little […]
The Carrying Value Question: An Introduction to Intangible Asset Impairment Testing
When the Balance Sheet Becomes the Story A portfolio company loses its largest customer. Revenue falls sharply in the back half of the year, and the finance team flags the event as a potential impairment indicator. By the time the external auditors arrive, management has produced an internal memo estimating that the customer relationship asset, originally […]