Function of and Issues with Fairness Opinion in Going-Private Transaction; Can F.O. exempt directors from their responsibility?

通过对美国争论的探索，作者了解到公平意见可以作为封闭市场交易中市场机制的补充，因为它们可以分析公司的假设价值并增加价值以显示意见的公平性。然而，公平性意见有其固有的局限性：它们不能显示确定的或预测的价格，也不能预测收购者最终会给出的价格。作为对这些限制的回应，美国学者建议法院审查公平意见和/或其收费结构的合理性，并与自律机构一起制定指导方针。关于公平意见在日本的作用，一些日本学者提到在公司控制交易中使用公平意见或其他一些外部意见，因为他们对市场机制有同样的怀疑。然而，如何解释公司董事的义务和责任存在一定的矛盾。本研究考察了最近的案例，并表明最近的法院判决和学术界倾向于要求董事至少展示公平的程序。此外，本文指出，法院没有考虑到依赖公平意见的情况，也没有考虑到它们的非固有问题的交易结构。为此，本文建议法院在运用公平意见否定董事责任时应考虑这些问题，并呼吁修改披露制度，要求在某些封闭市场交易中进行额外披露。

Through an exploration of the arguments in the U.S., the author understands thatfairness opinions can function as a complement to a market-based mechanism in closed-market deals because they can analyze the hypothetical value of the corporation and add value to show fairness with opinion. Nevertheless, fairness opinions haveinherent limitations: they cannot show an ascertained or predicted price or forecast the price an acquirer would ultimately offer. As a response to such limitations, Americanacademics have recommend that courts review the reasonability of fairness opinionsand/or their fee structure and develop guidelines together with a self-regulatory body.With respect to the role of fairness opinions in Japan, a number of Japanese academics have made reference to using fairness opinions or some other outside opinion in corporate control transactions because they share the same doubt concerningmarket-based mechanisms. However, there exist certain conflicts on how to interpret the duty and liability of corporation directors. This study examines recent cases and shows that recent court decisions and academics have tended to require directors to show, at minimum, fair process. Moreover, this article notes that courts have not considered the situation for relying on fairness opinions, nor the deal structure for, norinherent problems with them. To correspond, this article suggests that courts shouldconsider these issues when they use fairness opinions to deny the liability of directors,and calls for disclosure system amendment so as to require additional disclosure in certain closed-market transactions.