Estate of Frank A. Branson - Page 31




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          price of 55 to 60 percent of book value.13  Considering the                 
          nonpublic market that existed at the relevant time and the prices           
          for which Savings shares actually were sold,14 we think it                  
          extremely unlikely that any willing seller, not under any                   
          compulsion to sell and seeking to maximize his or her profit,               
          would choose to sell his or her shares in the public market at a            
          45-to 50-percent discount from book value.  We reject this                  
          portion of petitioner's expert opinion.                                     
          Respondent's Expert's Opinion                                               
               Respondent's expert is Herbert T. Spiro (Spiro).  Spiro is             
          the president of American Valuation Group, Inc., and he has                 
          performed many valuations for respondent in the past.  In his               
          report, Spiro considered the actual sales values and used the               
          market and income methods to value petitioner's Savings shares.             
          Spiro ultimately concluded that the fair market value of the                
          stock was $3,776,477 ($293 per share).                                      
               Spiro found seven publicly traded bank companies that were             
          sufficiently comparable to Savings to use for the market method             
          of valuation.  Employing a methodology similar to that used by              



               13The experts assumed that only petitioner's shares would be           
          offered on the public market.                                               
               14The total number of shares that changed hands during the             
          12 months beginning on Oct. 9, 1991, is 4,136.  This amount                 
          includes the 1,111 shares sold by decedent and the 2,800 sold by            
          petitioner.  All these shares sold for more than book value.                




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