Written by: Brett Shadbolt, CEO Censere ​ Something I constantly struggle with as a valuer is the effect of survivorship bias and its effects on the valuation of early stage businesses. As valuers we are tasked with trying to predict what a business might sell for on a given day. In performing this task we reference comparable market transactions and draw on inputs from equity ...

The Association of High Potential Enterprises of Korea (AHPEK) hosted a cross-border M&A training session at the Dowon Building in Seoul on 16 June 2016. This event was attended by 30 venture capitalists, M&A specialists, and corporate executives responsible for strategy and planning.  The Seminar was addressed by s peakers from  ...

Censere is pleased to announce the opening of a new office in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam on the 24 March 2016. This is our first office in Vietnam, as we continue to extend the Censere network throughout Asia Pacific. The new office reflects Censere's strong growth as well as our commitment to clients in Vietnam. It brings the total offices in the Censere network to 19. The new offic...

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release 

Stratiqa Inc. Merges with Censere Group

With immediate effect, Censere Group and Stratiqa Inc. have merged their respective businesses. The combined group will initially have 18 offices across three continents and will offer an expanded range of services to better serve clients. Brett Shadbolt, CEO of Censere and the combined group, stated "This is a significant development for Censere. Through Stratiqa we now have a dedicated premium service provider which complements Censere's existing valuation and advisory services. It significantly expands our capabilities in North America and we are sure our Asian clients will benefit from the expanded range of services.”

At the same time, Matthew Katzeff has joined Stratiqa Inc. as a Director. Matthew is based in Stratiqa's New York office and oversees Stratiqa's business in North America and beyond. Since beginning his career at the Blackstone Group, Matthew has developed a highly successful career predominantly focused upon Mergers & Acquisitions and strategic advisory, Fairness Opinions and Valuations. In addition, he has significant experience both in the US as well as Asia.  Speaking of the merger, Matthew commented "I am very excited to be part of the expanded group. Many of Stratiqa's clients either have, or are contemplating, acquisitions or expansion in Asia. Censere's existing network of 13 offices across Asia and Oceania is the ideal platform to extend Stratiqa's reach into these markets, while also providing expanded coverage to Censere's clients in the US."

 

The seventh annual Quamnet Outstanding Enterprise Awards took place on the 14 January 2015 at the Hong Kong Bankers Club. The Quamnet Awards endeavors to identify and highlight Hong Kong companies who represent excellence and the best of Hong Kong's entrepreneurial business spirit in their respective industries.  At the awards it was announced that, Censere had been awarded the Quamnet Outstanding Enterprise award for, "Outstanding Business Appraisal and Valuation Services. Censere Director, Daniel Martin stated, “this award highlights the depth and strength of our valuation offering across our 15 locations. We will look to build on this award in 2016 and to continue to offer quality, independent advice to our clients” On the evening, Dr. Simon Galpin, Director-General of InvestHK, HKSAR was on hand to present the Business Appraisal and Valuation Services Award to Daniel Martin, Director of Censere.  

On 4th December 2015, Mr. Brett Shadbolt, CEO of Censere Group, presented a talk in Overseas Resources Development Symposium in JW Marriott Hotel in Seoul. In this event, organized by Energy & Mineral Resources Development Association, Mr. Shadbolt shared his views on the current trends in mining projects. The event was supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of Korea as well as Korea National Oil Corporation, Korea Gas Corporation, Korea Resources Corporation, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Seoul University IEPP, HanYang Univ, Korea Resources Engineering, The Geological Society of Korea, Energy & Mineral Resources Development Association. 

In Thailand, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (the "NACC") has funded and organized, The Museum of Thai Corruption (the "Museum"), which is a roaming museum to raise the awareness of fraud and corruption in Thailand. The Museum showcases ten major alleged cases in Thailand over the last 15 years which includes: the rice subsidy scheme (in more detail below), corruption i...

Adie Gupta, Director of Censere Group's Malaysia office and the leader of Intellectual Property (IP)/ Intangible Assets team conducted a full day Leveraging IP workshop at Censere Training Academy's Kuala Lumpur facility on 19 November 2015. The workshop was attended by participants from government agencies, law firms as well as private equity/ venture capital firms. The Workshop covered a number of areas including, introduction to IP assets, commonly valued IP, methods of valuing IP as well as strategies for leveraging IP assets. The workshop also involved a number of case studies to provide the participants a better understanding of both technical and commercial aspects involved in IP valuations. Based on the feedback from the participants, Censere Training Academy will be conducting more varied workshops on IP, financial analysis and valuation related topics in the coming months.

Censere held a Texas-sized celebration on October 1st, celebrating the opening of Censere’s U.S. entity and the opening of its newest offices in Houston, Texas and Washington, D.C. The reception was held in Houston Galleria area at the Oceanaire Seafood Room and was attended by various business leaders in the Houston business community. Peggy Wilson, President and CEO of the Houston Metropolitan Chamber, was on hand to present Zaid Sultan, the Chamber’s Chairman and Censere Head of US Operations, and Brett Shadbolt, Censere’s Founder and CEO, with a Certificate of Membership on behalf of the Houston Metropolitan Chamber. Attendees of the event ranged from CEOs of Mid-sized Oil and Gas companies, law firm partners, Big 4 senior management, and various entrepreneurs. John Myers, Censere's Strategic Alliance Partner from Chorus Consulting was on hand as well.

The night was a culmination of a week-long set of events that Censere was a part of, as it officially launches operations in the United States. Monday, Mr. Shadbolt and Mr. Sultan were featured guests on Houston’s Small Business Today Radio Network and were able to present Censere to their audience. Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, Censere were supporting sponsors for the Momentum Event Group’s 3rd Oil and Gas Anti-Corruption and Compliance Exchange.

 

Censere was the supporting sponsor of Momentum Event Group’s 3rd Oil and Gas Anti-Corruption & Compliance Exchange on September 29 & 30th, 2015. The exchange was attended by over a 100 compliance and anti-corruption professionals ranging from international law firms to C-suite executives from multi-national oil and gas companies to US Attorneys from the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The exchange focused on several key areas in the world of anti-corruption, from “Compliance challenges for multi-national Oil and Gas Companies in High Risk Jurisdictions,” to reaction across the board to the Yates Memo. Afternoon sessions consisted of small group breakouts that were facilitated by various senior compliance leaders from industry and service firms. The event was attended by Brett Shadbolt and Zaid Sultan from Censere, along with John Myers of Chorus Consulting, Censere’s Houston based strategic alliance partner. 

Brett Shadbolt (Founder of Censere Group) and Zaid Sultan (Censere Group's Director of Houston and Washington DC offices) were invited as special guests in the SBT Magazine Talk Show broadcasted on Sept 28, 2015. In an hour-long interview, Brett and Zaid introduced Censere's due diligence and forensic services, and discussed their applications in business sector.

Click here to listen

Censere played an instrumental role in assisting the Department of Commerce of Fujian on their recent trade delegation trip to the United States. Karson Chu, Censere manager in Hong Kong liaised with the delegation and made appropriate connections for them on their trip to the US. Upon arriving, Censere’s US Director, Zaid Sultan, met with the delegation at a dinner in Houston, Texas, which was hosted by local Chinese-American owned businesses. He also gave an overview of Censere’s service offering, which is relevant to these companies looking for Oil/Gas assets for acquisition. Additionally, as Chairman of the Houston Metropolitan Chamber, Zaid welcomed the delegation to Houston and wished them well on their trip. Censere is gearing up for its sponsorship of the 3rd Oil & Gas Anti-Corruption & Compliance Exchange on September 29-30 in Houston.

Brett Shadbolt was a guest speaker at the recent World Intellectual Property Forum ("WIPF") held in Bangkok, Thailand from the 15-17 September. The theme of the conference was "IP as a commercial tool in Designing the Future". Brett's panel covered the topic, "Patent Valuation , Parameters, Tools and Best Practices - Learning & Evolution". The Forum was very well attended with industry professionals from around the globe converging on Thailand for the three day event.  

Censere has been featured in the client profile of the InvestHK’s latest edition in Sep 2015. InvestHK was established in 2000 in order to strengthen Hong Kong’s position as the leading international business hob in Asia and to attract foreign direct investment. We are pleased that Censere has been included in the InvestHK’s service providers list.

Brett Shadbolt has been invited, and will be attending the Joint HKICPA and IFRS Conference on the 12-13 October 2015 at the JW Marriot Hotel in Hong Kong. Mr Shadbolt has been selected to be a panelist in a panel discussion session covering the topic 'IFRS Measurement and other cross-cutting issues' from the perspective of a business valuer. This session will be designed to enhance the understanding of fair value and cross-cutting IFRS measurement issues. This conference will bring together leaders in financial reporting from the private sector, analysts, regulators and representatives of the ISAB as well as the accounting profession. It is a major event with more than 200 participants expected.

Corporate Livewire’s Global Fund Awards is an international award set up to honour outstanding funds and service providers within the financial industry. Censere has been awarded the Best Value Consulting Group Award for the Global Fund Awards 2015. This award once again evidenced that Censere is a recognized valuation company in the financial industry.  

Bioplastics, also called biobased plastic or biodegradable plastic, are a type of plastic manufactured from renewable biomass feedstocks such as vegetable oils, corn starch or sugar. The bioplastics industry is still a niche market and in its emerging growth stage though bioplastics have been utilized in a number of commercial markets and applications, such as packaging, textil...

 

The Acquisition International 2015 International Intellectual Property Awards recognise the top intellectual property practitioners in all areas including the well-established trademark, copyright, patent and litigation practices. Speaking about their award, Awards Coordinator Peter Rujgev commented: “The terrific response we had for the program this year is only outlining the growing importance of the Intellectual Property practice globally. It is an honour for us to acknowledge Censere for their excellence in the field and further inspire them to keep up their outstanding work for the years to come.“

Censere's CEO, Brett Shadbolt stated, “We are thrilled to be recognised as the leading IP valuation firm in Asia. We have worked hard to deliver high quality services to clients and it is a testament to our people that we have achieved this award.”

To learn more about our award winners and to gain insight into the working practices of the “best of the best”, please visit the Acquisition International supplement website.