Bluntly Media: A private company valuation

In August 2013, an intern at Slatestone Group, an Arizona-based boutique investment bank, was working on a targeted sell-side deal. Paterson Publishing, a Fortune 200 company, had expressed interest in acquiring Slatestone’s client Bluntly Media Holdings, a private direct marketing agency. The intern was assigned to help prepare the deal marketing material and assist with the valuation assessment of Bluntly Media. He needed to use a variety of valuation methods and propose a strategy that could assist Bluntly Media in attaining a higher price.
Learning Objective:
This case is suitable for finance courses on valuation and investment analysis. The primary objective of the case is to allow students to value an acquisition target. Specifically, the case seeks to:
Introduce students to private firm valuation.
Provide practice in applying different valuation methods: discounted cash flow (DCF), comparable companies and comparable transactions.
Provide an opportunity to explore the potential effects of political disruptions on the economy (e.g., the Global Financial Crisis, the U.S. debt ceiling and the U.S. government shutdown of 2013).

[Extract]
In October 2013, Jackson Ferdy, an intern at Slatestone Group was introduced to an ongoing targeted sell- side deal on which the Phoenix boutique investment bank was advising Paterson Publishing, a Fortune 200 company. Paterson Publishing had expressed interest in acquiring Slatestones client Bluntly Media Holdings, a private direct marketing agency. Under the supervision and guidance of the deal team, including Ferdy’s supervisor, he was assigned to help prepare the deal marketing material and assist with the valuation assessment of Bluntly.