Valuation & Underwriting Support
Independent senior review for pricing, acquisition, disposal and financing decisions — where the conclusion has to be traceable, challenged and defended.
- An independent second opinion on valuation logic, comparable evidence and underwriting assumptions.
- Outputs structured so that an investment committee can follow the reasoning, not just the number.
- Senior review throughout — no delegation of judgement to junior teams or automated models.
When this is relevant
A valuation rarely fails because the arithmetic is wrong. It fails under review because the reasoning behind it cannot be reconstructed: the comparable set is undocumented, the adjustments are unexplained, or an assumption that drives the result was never made explicit.
That becomes a problem at the point of decision. A committee is not asking whether a figure is precise. It is asking whether the figure can be defended — to a board, to a lender, to an auditor, or to the same committee twelve months later when circumstances have changed.
The question is not what the asset is worth. It is whether the answer survives scrutiny.
Where REV contributes
REV provides senior valuation and underwriting review as an independent party with no interest in the transaction proceeding. That independence is the point: the review is useful precisely because REV has nothing to gain from the conclusion.
Work is structured around the evidence rather than the output. Comparable transactions are documented and tested for relevance. Adjustments are stated with their rationale. Assumptions that materially drive the result are isolated, sensitised and recorded, so that a reviewer can see which ones matter and what happens if they move.
Where a third-party valuation already exists, REV reviews it: methodology, evidence base, assumption set and internal consistency. The output is not a competing number but a clear account of where the report is robust, where it is exposed, and what would need to change for the conclusion to shift.
- Acquisition pricing review before a binding offer
- Independent review of a third-party valuation report
- Disposal strategy and pricing support
- Valuation support for financing and refinancing
- Underwriting assumptions behind a portfolio bid
- Comparable evidence review in thin or opaque markets
- Business plan review for hold-period decisions
- Valuation note setting out method, evidence and conclusion
- Comparable evidence pack with relevance and adjustment rationale
- Assumption log identifying the drivers of the result
- Underwriting commentary on pricing and execution risk
- Sensitivity summary on the assumptions that matter
- Review memorandum where an existing report is assessed
- Executive summary formatted for committee review
Levels of deliverable
Not every decision needs the same instrument. Scoping the deliverable to the decision avoids paying for Red Book compliance on a screening exercise, and avoids relying on a triage opinion where formal reliance is required.
| Deliverable | Purpose | Reliance |
|---|---|---|
| Value opinion desktop or drive-by |
Triage and initial decision-making. Assumptions, inputs and comparable evidence, with limitations stated explicitly. | Indicative. No third-party reliance. |
| Valuation report non-RICS |
Full methodology and audit trail: market context, valuation approach, assumptions, supporting evidence and appendices. | Client reliance. |
| Valuation report RICS Red Book |
Prepared under RICS Valuation — Global Standards, with terms of engagement, compliance requirements and quality assurance. | Client reliance. Additional addressees by agreement. |
| AVM output | Modelled values across eligible assets within a screening exercise, subject to data availability, calibration and confidence thresholds. | Screening only. Not a valuation. |
Where the decision changes — a screening becomes a bid, or an internal review acquires an external addressee — the deliverable is escalated rather than reinterpreted.
How the work is structured
- Scope. Purpose, basis of value, reference date and the decision the work has to support are agreed before anything is analysed.
- Evidence. Comparable transactions, asking evidence and market signals are gathered, documented and tested for relevance.
- Calibration. Adjustments and assumptions are set, with the rationale recorded rather than implied.
- Senior review. Conclusions are examined against the evidence, with particular attention to the assumptions that drive the outcome.
- Decision-ready output. Findings are delivered in a form that can be read, questioned and defended by the people who will use them.
If you are reviewing an asset, a portfolio or a valuation that will have to withstand scrutiny, we would be pleased to hear from you.
Discuss a mandate