In a prior post, we explained how the Capital Asset Pricing Model (“CAPM”) has become one of the frequently employed methods used by the Delaware Court of Chancery to calculate the cost of equity for the discount rate in a DCF analysis. In this post, we focus on one specific component of the CAPM: the equity size premium.

The equity size premium is a number added to the risk-free rate and the equity risk premium (modified by beta) to reflect additional returns on small companies. The argument is that investors may demand a higher rate of return on small companies than they do for large companies because of the increased risk associated with small company investments. The size premium supposedly quantifies the increased risk.

One method the courts have used to determine the size premium is to refer to the Ibbotson SBBI Valuation Yearbook. The Ibbotson tables, published by Morningstar, contain historical capital markets data that include, among other things, total returns and index values for stocks dating back to 1926. Morningstar recently discontinued the Ibbotson SBBI Valuation Yearbook, which means a court seeking to apply a small-size premium will have to look to other valuation materials for mergers occurring after 2013.

The Delaware Court of Chancery has used market capitalization as the benchmark for selecting a size premium. Thus, the court multiplies the amount of outstanding stock by the market price on the day prior to the merger and determines which Ibbotson decile the company falls under. The court then applies the appropriate size premium from the applicable Ibbotson table. The court may accept adjustments to the Ibbotson size premium if there is evidence of individual characteristics that distinguish the subject company from other companies within the same market capitalization decile.

Some valuation experts in appraisal cases have argued that the problem with this market capitalization approach is that it creates circularity based on the market price of the stock. The Delaware courts have acknowledged that the market price of a stock is not determinative of value in an appraisal proceeding because, among other things, the market price reflects a minority discount. The appraisal statute requires that the company be valued as a going concern, exclusive of any trading discounts. Moreover, the market price of a stock is an unreliable indicator of value when the market is inefficient (which is often the case for small companies) or when other factors affect market price. By relying on the market price to determine the size premium for the discount rate, these experts contend, the court is effectively incorporating that minority discount and inefficient market price into its valuation analysis in contravention of Section 262’s mandate that the company be valued as a going concern. An alternative approach to determine the company’s size for the purpose of ascertaining the small-size premium is to conduct an independent valuation of the company using a non-DCF method, such as a valuation based on comparable companies or precedent transactions. This alternative approach avoids the pitfalls of relying on an inefficient and discounted market price in calculating the company’s discount rate.