Employee Ownership Trust

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by a searcher from University of Cape Town - Graduate School of Business
in London, UK

1yr ago

Employee Ownership Trust

Does anyone have real scars from buying an EOT-owned business ? I am looking for an experienced view .

1 Like

127 Views

reply by a searcher 1yr ago
from University of Cape Town in London, UK

thanks , challenge I have is the tax position when selling a EOT is punative 76% effective rate - its a poison pill and the employees certainly dont benifit so looking for a way around it

reply by a professional 1yr ago
from Lancaster University in London, UK

Hi Donald, I assume that the effective rate is so high because there will be capital gains on the sale for the trustee plus income tax and NICs for the employees? Agree that this is not very beneficial for the employees but there is a slight advantage for the buyer in that remaining managers are still incentivised post sale. A sale to another EOT would likely avoid the tax consequences but as it doesn't realise any gain for employees (and is probably not how a buyer would want to structure an acquisition), this is unlikely to be a solution. Really an owner selling to an EOT should have considered these issues and warned employees at the time of the EOT sale.