The owners always believed that the employees were key to the continued successful growth of this civil engineering group, and so a sale into Employee Ownership was very logical step.
Context
We were invited by a Corporate Finance firm to co-lead this business sale into Employee Ownership. The two owners of this Civil Engineering Group had received an offer to acquire the business, however both the terms and the nature of negotiations of that deal did not feel right. By comparison, the sale to an EOT was straightforward and efficiently completed.
vfdnet intervention
Following our established EOT transition process, together with the Corporate Finance firm, we put together a professional team of advisors, which included tax advice for Group re-structure followed by Revenue clearance, while we generated an independent valuation report, cash flow and deal structuring advice.
Our Grand Bargain methodology was particularly helpful in ensuring that each stakeholder group’s interest had been properly thought through prior to the senior managers and employee being briefed. Prior to the deal, several different methodologies were modelled, all complying with the Equality criteria so essential to EOTs, enabling the Founders to structure the optimum tax efficient profit share and bonuses combination. In addition, post EOT completion, we introduced advisers to structure and implement EMI Share Options without large downpayments by the senior managers.
EOT completion
As usual, our work included how to engage and present to the Leadership team, and we also co-presented the transition to several employee meetings. The Founders were very pleased by the response of both the Leadership team and the employee meetings.
Testimonial
“The team demonstrated exceptional communication skills and provided professional guidance throughout the process. The team’s attentiveness to detail ensured everyone understood the complexities involved, and their efficiency brought this incredible journey to a successful conclusion”. Paul, Founding Shareholder.