View From McDermott: Fifth Circuit Focuses on Process in ESOP Valuations



Allison Wilkerson and Emily Rickard wrote this bylined article on the Fifth Circuit’s Perez v. Bruister decision, which stressed the importance of “process” in valuation determinations used for acquisitions of a corporation’s stock by an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). ESOPs “are still grappling with valuation issues” which are “an inexact science that involves an inherent level of uncertainty,” the authors wrote, and they analyzed Bruister’s guidance to fiduciaries who review valuations for ESOP transactions.