Owners of closely held businesses often face difficult or limited options when figuring out how to achieve liquidity through their business. For many companies, an ESOP is a superior solution. An ESOP is a qualified employee benefit plan that offers business owners a solution to their ownership transition and liquidity needs. We can successfully guide your company through the evaluation and implementation of an ESOP. We also provide ongoing services to sustain your ESOP throughout its lifecycle.
If structured and executed properly an ESOP may provide the following benefits:
- Full market value paid to sellers, after-tax comparison likely exceeding a third party sale
- Sell stock of the company, pay no tax on the proceeds and still keep control
- Increase the company’s working capital and cash flow with no cash expenditure and no additional productive effort
- Buy out a minority or majority stockholder with pretax dollars
- Cut the cost of borrowing nearly in half by deducting principal payments as well as interest
- Make acquisitions with pretax dollars and tax free to the seller
- Provide the employees with equity upside at no cash outlay on their part or the owner’s
- Increase productivity, profitability and company value with no cash outlay
- Company legacy and culture preserved
- Post transaction company may become tax-exempt
- Confidential, fast transaction
To do this you must own a company with at least 20 employees and enjoy at least $1 million in pre-tax profits, annually. If you meet this criteria, you undoubtedly would qualify for a “leveraged ESOP sale transaction”, which our firm specializes in.
We also recommend you watch this short video about ESOPs: Employees Expanding the American Dream
