Gb08_engl Umschlag:GB 2005 - DVFA

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activities of the committees
Expert Group Real Estate Financial Reporting
This Expert Group concentrated on three areas during its six meetings and accompanying
activities in 2008: One focus was completion of the book “Real Estate as a Capital Market
Product”, which offers a comparative analysis of public real estate firms and REITs vs.
open-ended real estate funds (and derivatives) from the point-of-view of a capital market
analyst or investor. The more than 600-page volume was published in January 2009.
The group’s second priority was an intensive examination of a position paper, published
as part of the DVFA financial papers of series, on the REIT-G and its weaknesses. The
third area of activity for the Expert Group Real Estate Financial Reporting was development
of an index for measuring and assessing the transparency of listed real estate firms. The
initial results of this work are to be presented in the course of 2009.
Expert Group Fairness Opinions
Equities_
In September 2007, the Expert Group Fairness Opinions published its “Standards for
Fairness Opinions”, with the objective of establishing best practice standards for the
content of fairness opinions and proper handling of potential conflicts of interest. The
principles contained in this publication were aimed at fairness opinions for the boards of
target companies in a takeover bid, the most common form found in Germany. In this case,
section 27 of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act (Wertpapiererwerbsund
Übernahmegesetz - WpÜG) requires an assessment of the financial appropriateness
of the consideration offered. This assessment is often supported by the fairness opinion.
In 2008, the Expert Group also drafted recommendations for bidder companies, and
the revised Standards for Fairness Opinions (now expanded for the boards of target
and bidder companies) were published in November 2008. At the bidder company, just
as at the target company, the fairness opinion can serve as proof that the management
board has acted in accordance with its obligations. The new standards for bidder companies
are focussed primarily on the proper handling of conflicts of interest. The work
of the Expert Group Fairness Opinions will be transferred in 2009 to the Corporate
Transaction & Valuation Expert Group, which began its work in January 2009 under the
chairmanship of Prof. Schwetzler and Dr. Christian Aders.