Defining the task
We establish the purpose of the valuation or audit and where the report will be used: a transaction, court, insolvency, a tax dispute. That determines the approach and the scope.
PRACTICE / 04
Due diligence, valuation and audit
A report that stands up in litigation, not one that merely looks good.
- Review covers
- Law · tax · HR · finance
- Deliverable
- Report with a risk map
- Response time
- Same day
Valuation and audit are not a standalone precaution here — they are part of the legal work. A valuation report is needed to justify the price of a participation interest in a corporate dispute, the size of a claim in insolvency, the value of property on a division of assets or the loss in a damages claim. We therefore prepare it from the outset on the basis that the other side will attack it.
The same goes for an audit: it shows not only figures but consequences — tax, corporate and criminal.
What we do
- Value businesses and participation interests: for transactions, disputes, a shareholder's exit, inheritance.
- Value the market price of real estate — for transactions, challenges to cadastral value, security and division of property.
- Value movable property: equipment, vehicles, stock.
- Value claims — receivables and claims in the register of creditors.
- Run due diligence on a company before a purchase, an investment or lending.
- Carry out voluntary and internal audits and audits of financial statements.
- Run a full audit — financial, tax, HR and legal — with a risk map and priorities.
- Propose improvements to business processes on the back of the audit: contract work, document flow, allocation of authority and internal regulations.
Typical situations
- A shareholder is leaving the company and disagrees with the calculation of the value of his interest.
- The cadastral value of a property is overstated and the property tax has multiplied.
- Before buying a company you need to know the real value of the asset and what liabilities have attached to it.
- In insolvency proceedings the value of property that is about to be sold cheaply to connected parties has to be substantiated.
- The owner has not checked for a long time what is happening inside: who signs contracts, what obligations have been taken on, where HR and tax stand.
Commercial disputes in Russia are heard by the arbitrazh courts — the state commercial courts, not private arbitration tribunals; disputes involving individuals go to the courts of general jurisdiction.
HOW THE WORK IS ORGANISED
How the work is organised
Gathering data
Documents, inspection of the property, accounting data, market comparables, industry information. We request exactly what is needed — as a single list, in one go.
Report and defence of the conclusions
We prepare the report, explain the conclusions in plain language and, where required, appear and defend the calculations in court or before a regulator.
RESULTS
Cases from this practice
M&A and corporate law2024
49,000sq m within the transaction perimeter
M&A support: Amba supermarkets to X5 Group
We advised on X5 Group's acquisition of the Amba supermarket chain in Khabarovsk Territory: long-term lease rights over sites totalling more than 49,000 sq m, and their relaunch under the Pyaterochka brand in Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur and 14 district centres. The territory became the chain's 69th region of operation.
Read the case
Tax disputes2024
RUB 93.5million of tax assessment overturned
Tax assessment and interest overturned after a field tax audit
Following a field audit, VK-I was assessed RUB 93.5 million of arrears and RUB 26.4 million of interest, with administrative proceedings opened under art. 122(3) of the Tax Code: the tax authority treated loans from a foreign company as artificial. We proved the economic purpose of the loans, that they were actually serviced, and that the audit itself was procedurally flawed. The decision was quashed and the proceedings discontinued.
Read the case
Subsidiary liability2024
2 of 3clients released from the claims
Subsidiary liability claim refused in the AO E. insolvency
The bankruptcy trustee applied to hold three of our clients subsidiarily liable. We obtained an order splitting the claims into separate proceedings and prepared an individual position for each. The Arbitrazh Court of the City of Moscow refused the trustee's application in respect of two of them; work for the third continues.
Read the case
QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
How does your valuation report differ from one produced by a valuation firm?
We prepare it for a specific matter and know in advance who will attack it and how. The report therefore sets out the data sources and the logic of the calculation, and we are ready to defend the conclusions at the hearing and against the other side's expert.
How long does due diligence on a company take?
One to three weeks to gather and analyse the data, depending on the size of the business and how quickly the seller releases documents. We send the list of documents required as a single file so the review does not stretch over several rounds.
Can only part of the business be reviewed — tax or HR, for example?
Yes. We scope the work to the task: before a transaction the full perimeter is usually needed; before a tax audit, the tax and contract blocks; before a change of director, corporate procedures and authority.
Will the valuation report be accepted by a court and by a bank?
The report is prepared to the requirements of Russian valuation legislation and is used in court, in insolvency, for security and in tax disputes. If it has to satisfy a particular bank or authority, tell us in advance — that determines which annexes are needed.
PRACTICE SERVICES
Individual services
01 / SERVICE
Legal due diligence
Before buying a business or taking a stake, you need to know what you are actually acquiring and which liabilities come with it.
02 / SERVICE
Counterparty checks
Before a large advance, extended payment terms or a long-term contract, you need to know whether there is a real business behind the counterparty and whether it can…
03 / SERVICE
Due diligence for private investors
Money goes into a friend's business, a share of a café or a start-up on trust and on the strength of a short pitch deck.
NEXT STEP
Let us look at your situation
The consultation is free when an engagement is signed: we tell you whether the matter has prospects and roughly what running it will cost.