Years ago, when I was working as an IB for SPI, I went to NYC for an IPO for SDX. While I was visiting an EPM, he said that if I should offer another TLA then I would be out of his office on my A-double S.
Wait. Was that a warning?
That day I learned the importance of speaking plainly. Previously, I thought that if I spoke jargon, then I would look and sound very impressive, like I was an expert. What I learned was that jargon is also well known as gobbledygook. I learned I needed to use words that my listener understood.
Let’s try that again:
Once, when I was an Investment Banker for Salman Partners Inc, I was in in New York City raising money for an initial public offering for Sea Dragon Energy. SDX was the expected ticker symbol for the company when it was accepted for listing on the stock exchange. While I was there, I met with an equity portfolio manager to solicit an investment in this company. He said, if I should try to baffle him with another three letter acronym I would find myself out of his office; and there would be no sales order from him to invest funds in this company.
Lesson learned: be clear–speak plainly.
We write our valuation reports with this in mind. Our valuation reports are written in plain language in a narrative style. Every report has a Definitions section to define those terms specific to valuations and other frequently used terms specific to each unique company. We walk the reader through a description of the business, set in its economic and industry environment. We describe the approaches to the valuation and describe why we think these are appropriate. We describe the methodologies used and how the calculations are performed. We provide a list of the documents that we reviewed and thought relevant. We lay out all our assumptions. Every paragraph, figure and table is numbered with hyperlinks in the text to guide the reader.
We write to inform our readers; not to confuse the issues further. We strive for clarity.
Clear. Fair. Value. That’s why it is in our logo.
