Alexander Vasaly

Alex Vasaly provides financial and economic analysis in complex commercial litigation and regulatory proceedings. Mr. Vasaly specializes in matters related to valuation, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), real estate, private equity (PE), venture capital (VC), and securities. He has experience in all phases of litigation, including mediation, deposition, arbitration, and trial.

Valuation and M&A

Mr. Vasaly has consulted on valuation issues in numerous appraisal proceedings and commercial disputes in federal and state courts, including the Delaware Court of Chancery, and in international jurisdictions, including the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. His representative work includes:

• Performing valuation analyses in appraisal litigation arising from M&A transactions and corporate bankruptcies
• Performing valuation analyses of private companies and other illiquid assets, including assessing the appropriate discount rate and valuation adjustments (e.g., discount for lack of marketability) to apply to such assets
• Addressing market efficiency and deal process issues in connection with take-private transactions
• Assessing economic damages to certain classes of shareholders in M&A transactions that were alleged to have been inappropriately structured

Real estate

As cohead of Cornerstone Research’s real estate practice, Mr. Vasaly consults on real estate investment, finance, development, acquisition, and asset management matters. He has assessed economic losses and valuation issues for companies, investors, and individuals across a range of residential and commercial real estate assets. Mr. Vasaly also works with clients on regulatory investigations and proceedings. His case experience includes:

• Evaluating the discounted present value of planned large-scale development projects
• Estimating the market value of real estate assets using statistical models
• Assessing damages claims related to cash distributions from partnership interests in a portfolio of over two hundred cross-collateralized multifamily housing projects
• In the Delaware Court of Chancery, assessing the fair value of a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owned a large portfolio of shopping malls and strip centers
• Quantifying the impact of historical designations on residential property values
• Assessing the typicality and reasonableness of actions taken by real estate developers and investors
• Analyzing alleged misrepresentations and omissions in the financial statements of a real estate brokerage firm filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Private equity and venture capital

Mr. Vasaly is experienced in the customs and practices of the PE and VC industries, as well high-growth startup companies. He has worked on numerous matters involving compensation, valuation, investment decisions and strategies, fund structure, and founder disputes, including:

• Evaluating claims of carried interest purportedly owed to former employees of investment management firms
• Assessing whether a startup company would have been able to raise additional rounds of VC financing absent a merger
• Addressing damages claims related to the value of equity interests in a pre-IPO startup company
• Assessing key performance indicators that investors in high-growth software as a service (SaaS) companies would be expected to analyze

Merger reviews

Mr. Vasaly has assessed the merger-specificity and verifiability of claimed efficiencies in high-profile merger reviews, including U.S. v. Aetna/Humana and United States v. Bertelsmann Se & Co. KGaA et al. He has also analyzed counterfactual valuations and competitive effects, including in Cigna’s $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts.

Securities

Mr. Vasaly analyzes damages, market efficiency, price impact, and loss causation in Rule 10b-5 and Section 11 cases. He has worked on matters involving stock and bonds issued by firms in the banking, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and real estate industries, among others.

Mr. Vasaly’s experience includes issues related to financial accounting restatements, government investigations, risk management procedures, business combinations, and the clinical development of pharmaceutical drugs.

Before joining Cornerstone Research, Mr. Vasaly worked in real estate finance at J.P. Morgan.