Fair Price

Fair price

The equilibrium price for futures contracts. Also called the theoretical futures price, which equals the spot price continuously compounded at the cost of carry rate for some time interval. In the context of corporate goverance, Fair-Price provisions limit the range of prices a bidder can pay in two-tier offers. They typically require a bidder to pay to all shareholders the highest price paid to any shareholder during a specified period of time before the commencement of a tender offer and do not apply if the deal is approved by the board of directors or a supermajority of the target's shareholders. The goal of this provision is to prevent pressure on the target's shareholders to tender their shares in the front end of a two-tiered tender offer, and they have the result of making such an acquisition more expensive. A majority of states have fair price laws.

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Fair Market Value

A subjective estimate of what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller for a given asset, assuming both have a reasonable knowledge of the asset's worth. Fair market value is important in both law and accounting. In the former, it is often used in assessing damages as the result of a lawsuit. In the latter, determining the fair market value of an asset (e.g. after depreciation) is important to determining the amount of tax owed on it.