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1. Member States shall ensure that an independent expert examines the draft terms of the cross-border division and draws up a report for members. That report shall be made available to the members not less than one month before the date of the general meeting referred to in Article 160h. Depending on the law of the Member State, the expert may be a natural or legal person.

2. The report referred to in paragraph 1 shall in any case include the expert’s opinion as to whether the cash compensation and the share exchange ratio are adequate. When assessing the cash compensation, the expert shall consider any market price of the shares in the company being divided prior to the announcement of the division proposal or the value of the company excluding the effect of the proposed division, as determined in accordance with generally accepted valuation methods. The report shall at least:

(a) indicate the method or methods used to determine the cash compensation proposed;

(b) indicate the method or methods used to arrive at the share exchange ratio proposed;

(c) state whether the method or methods are adequate for the assessment of the cash compensation and the share exchange ratio, indicate the value arrived at using such methods and give an opinion on the relative importance attributed to those methods in arriving at the value decided on; and (d) describe any special valuation difficulties which have arisen. The expert shall be entitled to obtain from the company being divided all information necessary for the discharge of the duties of the expert.

3. Neither an examination of the draft terms of cross-border division by an independent expert nor an independent expert report shall be required if all the members of the company being divided have so agreed. Member States may exclude single-member companies from the application of this Article.