Join us for our Upcoming Webinar You're Invited to join us on June 9, 2020 for the next Executive Financial Services, Inc. (EFS) Webinar ESOPs in Ownership Transition Tuesday, June 9, 2020, Noon - 1:00 ET Did you know: That a business owner can sell his or her business on a tax-free basis and continue […]
You're Invited to join us on July 16, 2020 for the next Executive Financial Services Webinar Selling a company to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) provides a business owner with a tax-efficient ownership succession planning strategy. This webinar will go beyond the ESOP basics to discuss advanced ESOP considerations. The speakers discuss how a […]
What Julius Caesar said more than 2000 years ago is still true today: "Experience is the teacher of all things." In this webinar, we will share some key lessons learned from our 35 years of ESOP experience through case studies. We will discuss positive and negative characteristics of ESOP candidates by examining some recent transactions, […]
Many business owners think their only liquidity opportunity is a sale to private equity or to a competitor. Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) provide an alternative liquidity strategy that allow owners to receive full value, on a tax-advantaged basis, while rewarding employees and protecting their jobs. In this webinar, which is new to our webinar […]
Did you know: That a business owner can sell his or her business on a tax-free basis and continue to be active in the business after the sale? That a company can receive a tax deduction for principal payments on a loan? That a company can deduct the dividends that it pays on its stock? […]
Click to view this email in a browser ESOPs: Advanced Considerations February 16, 2021 Noon - 1:00 ET Join us for our Upcoming Webinar You're Invited to join us on February 16, 2021 for the next Executive Financial Services Webinar ESOPs: Advanced Considerations Tuesday, February 16, 2021, Noon - 1:00 ET Selling a company […]
You're Invited to join us on March 16, 2021 for the next Executive Financial Services Webinar ESOPs: Lessons Learned Tuesday, March 16, 2021, Noon - 1:00 ET What Julius Caesar said more than 2000 years ago is still true today: "Experience is the teacher of all things." In this webinar, we will share some key […]
ESOP activity continued to boom in 2020 and there are many factors in play that could cause the boom to accelerate in 2021 and beyond. In this new EFS webinar we will discuss the increased awareness of ESOPs among business owners and their advisors, the factors that will cause ESOP activity to accelerate, key financial […]
Step 1: The company borrows money from a third party lender (the “Outside Loan”)
Step 2: The company loans the money to the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (the “ESOP”) and receives a note in exchange (the “Inside Loan”)
Step 3: The ESOP uses the internal loan proceeds to purchase stock from the selling shareholder(s) in exchange for cash and/or a promissory note (the “Seller Note”)
Step 1: Similar to contributions to other retirement plans, the company makes a tax-deductible annual contribution (and dividend, possibly) to the ESOP
Step 2: Immediately after receiving the wire transfer with the annual contribution, the ESOP wires the money to the company as a repayment of the Inside Loan
Step 3: The repayment of a portion of the Inside Loan triggers a proportionate allocation of shares to the accounts of eligible ESOP participants
Step 4: The company can use its enhanced cash flows to service the Outside Loan and the Seller Note
Board of Directors: Under state law, a corporation’s authority vests in its board of directors. Other than a duty to appoint fiduciaries of the plan and the duty to monitor their compliance, there are no ESOP-specific legal requirements of the board of directors of an ESOP-owned corporation. The board is elected by the shareholders of a corporation and is responsible for making strategic decisions about the direction of the corporation. The board will appoint the officers and hire the management team who will carry out that strategic direction on a day-to-day basis. The board has a fiduciary duty to the corporation’s shareholders to protect their interests, which generally means growing shareholder value. Other responsibilities of the board include overseeing executive compensation, responding to offers, approving the financial statements, and hiring the ESOP Trustee.
ESOP Committee: The board may appoint a committee to oversee the daily operations of the plan. The committee’s responsibilities may entail fiduciary obligations if the committee has authority and discretion over the management of the plan. However, not every ESOP committee is a fiduciary under ERISA. The ESOP committee is created in the plan documents, but there is no legal requirement that a corporation have an ESOP committee.
ESOP Trustee: The ESOP Trustee is responsible for managing the assets of the ESOP for “the exclusive benefit of” the ESOP Participants and in accordance with the plan documents and ERISA. In order to satisfy this requirement, the ESOP Trustee will have a valuation firm that will complete the ESOP annual appraisal and a third-party administration firm to perform all of the IRS testing and issue account statements to the ESOP Participants.
The ESOP Trust – not the ESOP Participants – is the legal owner of the shares that the ESOP purchases. Thus, in a 100% ESOP-owned corporation, the corporation has only one shareholder, the ESOP Trust. The ESOP Trustee has rights like any other shareholder under corporate law, such as electing the corporation’s board of directors. The ESOP Trustee typically will not serve on the board of directors, but will likely require that the board include one or two independent directors. The outgoing board will usually present the ESOP Trustee with a slate of candidates and the ESOP Trustee will cast a vote to either approve or not approve that slate.
The ESOP Trustee is also responsible for voting all of the shares owned by the ESOP, regardless of whether those shares are allocated to ESOP Participants’ accounts. The plan document will indicate how the ESOP Trustee determines how to vote. In a closely held corporation, the ESOP Participants will direct the ESOP Trustee on how to vote allocated shares only on a limited number of major corporate issues, including a sale of all or substantially all of the corporation’s assets; merger; liquidation; recapitalization; reclassification; dissolution; and consolidation. Pass-through voting by the ESOP Participants is not required for how to vote on other issues, such as voting for the board, agreeing to tender the stock, and selling the stock.
| Income Approach | Market Approach | Asset Approach |
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| Overview of Approach | Overview of Approach | Overview of Approach |
| The earnings-based approach is appropriate where the business being valued is earning a fair return on its capital employed and the hypothetical purchaser wishes to acquire the future indicated earnings generated by the enterprise. | Based on prices determined by the financial market.
Estimates the value of the business based upon evidence of prices investors are willing to pay for companies in similar lines of businesses. |
Used as a valuation methodology when liquidation is contemplated because the business is not viable as an ongoing operation.
Asset values constitute the prime determinant of business worth (inventory, receivables, property and equipment, etc.) as opposed to cash flows generated by such assets. |
Enterprise value
Equity value
Price per share
The table below illustrates the various financing sources available for ESOP transactions
| Type | Description | Term | Pricing |
| Senior debt | Debt secured by the company’s assets | 3-4 years | LIBOR + 150-350bps |
| Subordinated debt | Table | 5-7 years | 8-10% cash interest |
| Seller notes | Table | 5-10 years | 2–10% cash interest, depending on subordination, plus warrants to get to 12-14% |
| Company cash | Table | 3-20 years | AFR |
| Royalty financing | Table | 8-10 years | 5–12% cash and PIK interest and royalties to get to 18-22% IRR |
| Mezzanine debt | Unsecured, subordinated debt with an equity component | 8-10 years | 5–12% cash and PIK interest and warrants to get to 18-22% IRR |
This chart illustrates the amount of debt that is typically available to companies considering an ESOP:
Tax Subsidies Encourage ESOPs
Stock Appreciation Rights
Additional incentive for key employees
Portion of equity set aside as SARs
