Readers’ forum: Valuing non-voting shares in family company

Readers’ views would be appreciated on the approach to valuing non-voting shares in the context of a family-owned property investment company. We have come across a situation recently where parents own 20% of the issued share capital of a property investment company and a trust for their three adult children owns the remaining 80%. The parents have other business interests and have concluded that it would make sense for the remaining 20% that they own in this company to be gifted to the children outright particularly as the parents have realised some capital losses which could be offset against the resulting capital gains.

We were initially comfortable about the approach we were going to take to valuing the parents’ 20% shareholding being a minority interest however on reviewing the articles of association it has come to our attention that the trust’s 80% shareholding is a...