Marshall & Stevens, Inc., an independent valuation advisory, litigation support, and investment banking firm, recently announced the acquisition of Acuity Advisors. Acuity is the sixth distinguished valuation and transaction advisory firm recently acquired by Marshall & Stevens, according to a company press release.

Acuity is headquartered in California (Orange County), home of the fifth largest economy in the world, and some of the most striking coastline to be found anywhere.

Established in 1989, Acuity maintains the largest Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) advisory practice on the West Coast. In addition, Acuity has a long track record of providing defensible opinions for financial reporting, estate and gift tax, and corporate planning needs of its clients, Marshall & Stevens said.

At the same time, Acuity has delivered successful outcomes to dozens of companies over the years that have retained them to lead the execution of various forms of ownership transition transactions. Trustees, boards of directors, investors, entrepreneurs, and their advisors trust Acuity to provide insightful analysis and proactive execution for a variety of strategies where the equity of a business is changing hands.

“Joining Marshall & Stevens provides our team with a larger, more diverse platform to serve the expanding needs of our clients,” Chris Kramer, founder of Acuity Advisors, said in the release. “This combination enables us to maintain our core focus of helping owners bring about the successful transition of their businesses through implementation of ESOPs and other strategies, while adding resources in the areas of real estate and equipment valuations, quality of earnings and investigative accounting, transfer pricing, and litigation support.”

Marshall & Stevens President and CEO Mark Santarsiero shared his thoughts on the acquisition.

“We welcome Chris Kramer back to Marshall & Stevens where he started his valuation career over three decades ago. Chris has assembled an impressive ESOP valuation and transaction advisory practice at Acuity,” Santarsiero said. “Adding Acuity to Marshall & Stevens is an indication of our commitment to serving the large population of business owners who desire thoughtful, personalized succession planning solutions.”