Business Succession

One of the greatest challenges facing the private business community is succession. Business succession planning will mean different things to different businesses depending on the nature of the business, the stage of the business and the fundamental objectives of the business principals and owners.

Planning for the succession of a business involves understanding the business in question and the objectives for the business and working through a legal and commercial plan to assist in achieving these objectives. Planning for the succession of a business will very often require utilising legal expertise and experience in a variety of areas including the following:

• workplace agreements for key staff structured to provide incentives consistent with business objectives
• equity ownership and incentive plans to assist with the transition of equity ownership to particular employees
• business owners and management agreements to govern the ongoing rights and duties between business owners and the relationship of owners to decision making in the business
• effective use of insurance for business needs either in a key-person context or to fund an equity buy-out (commonly known as “buy/sell”) between existing owners
• management buy-out arrangements
• trade sales
• transitioning the business to public ownership
• protection planning and structuring or restructuring for key business assets
• management succession in terms of matching the long term management skill base with the business objectives
• with the true “family businesses” dealing with the transition of ownership and management to the next generation
• the effective use of personal estate planning for the business principals owners to achieve business succession objectives in a manner that is both tax effective and which protects the business from a breakdown in the personal relationship of a key business principal
• tax implications and tax planning to achieve the business succession objectives in the most effective way.

The diverse experience and expertise of the lawyers at Bartier Perry means that we are uniquely placed to assist our clients with their business succession needs.

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Executive Lawyers and Consultants

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