Introduction

The virtual (mini) symposium ("Symposium") focused on the thorny issue of determining the value of a business in the COVID era and was conducted on the OGEMID and Young-OGEMID listservs simultaneously.

Determining the value of a business that is caught in a dispute is fraught with difficulties. This is largely due to different assumptions and the degree of uncertainty involved in the process. Nevertheless, Covid-19 has brought about an unusually high increase in uncertainty in various markets. As a result, the task of valuating the assets at the heart of a dispute have become exceedingly difficult. In addition, Covid-19 has served as a catalyst for a shift in the conventional approach towards assessing damages.

In this Symposium, the panelists covered a wide range of topics ranging from the various types of government interventions that can impact upon the value of a business, to the impact on valuation approaches of unforeseen events that brought about abrupt changes overnight.

In this Symposium, the panelists - Ms. Funke Adekoya - San; Ms. Kathleen Paisley; and Richard E. (Rory) Walck - covered a wide range of topics ranging from the various types of government interventions that can impact upon the value of a business, to the impact on valuation approaches of unforeseen events that brought about abrupt changes overnight.