Control premium is an amount that a buyer is usually willing to pay over the current market price of a publicly traded company. Contrary to a widely held view, this premium is not justified by the expected synergies, such as the expected increase in cash flow resulting from cost savings and revenue enhancements achievable in the merger. Synergies are achieved whenever two companies combine their operations and therefore, should not be included in the control premium. It is accepted that synergies should be captured by the shareholders of the acquirer. The justification for the control premium lies in the expected value that the acquirer expects to achieve from obtaining control and results from the changes in the company management that will follow the acquisition.

Normally, the control premium is industry-specific and amounts to 20–30% of the market capitalization

Market capitalization

Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...

 of a company calculated based on a 20-trading-day average of its stock price.

Example

Company XYZ has 1,000,000 shares outstanding. The 20-day average price per share is $1. To buy control, an acquirer usually needs to consolidate more than 50% of the shares. Say, the buyer wants to acquire 60% of the stock. The market price will be 600,000 * $1.00 = $600,000. However, the buyer estimates that he will be able to realize 25%-synergy, so the maximum price he is willing to pay is $600,000 * (1 + 25%) = $750,000

See also

• Business valuation
  Business valuation
  Business valuation is a process and a set of procedures used to estimate the economic value of an owner’s interest in a business. Valuation is used by financial market participants to determine the price they are willing to pay or receive to consummate a sale of a business...
  
  
• Divestment
  Divestment
  In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for either financial or ethical objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm...
  
  
• Equity value
  Equity value
  Equity value is the value of a company available to owners or shareholders. It is the enterprise value plus all cash and cash equivalents, short and long-term investments, and less all short-term debt, long-term debt and minority interests....
  
  
• Enterprise value
  Enterprise value
  Enterprise value , Total enterprise value , or Firm value is an economic measure reflecting the market value of a whole business. It is a sum of claims of all the security-holders: debtholders, preferred shareholders, minority shareholders, common equity holders, and others...
  
  
• Goodwill (accounting)
  Goodwill (accounting)
  Goodwill is an accounting concept meaning the value of an entity over and above the value of its assets. The term was originally used in accounting to express the intangible but quantifiable "prudent value" of an ongoing business beyond its assets, resulting perhaps because the reputation the firm...
  
  
• M&A
• Takeover
  Takeover
  In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...
  
  

External links

• Marketability Discounts and Control Premium Example