A New Perspective on Employee Stock Ownership Plans

Having conducted over 200 Employee Stock Ownership Plan (“ESOP”) transactions, George Cassiere and Brian Eagle explain how an ESOP can potentially enhance an estate plan when the client wishes to pass a controlling interest in a family business to the next and/or 3rd generation and create liquid assets for beneficiaries that are not involved in the business. ESOPs boast the additional benefit of binding employees to the corporation and the successor management team. Lastly, empirical studies have shown that productivity can go up and turn-over down in employee owned companies, especially when the ESOP is combined with a well-conceived communications program.