Top 5 Articles from May

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (“ESOPs”) allow you to reward your employees by giving them an ownership stake in the company as they buy you out over time. While the plans offer tax benefits for the employees and the company, there are certain conditions that should be in place to ensure a successful outcome for everyone involved.

The leveraged buyout (“LBO“) has become well-practiced among private equity professionals, and is now standard industry practice. However, not every company is a viable LBO candidate. Detailed below are a set of characteristics that deal professionals typically seek when assessing a target company’s viability for an LBO-style change of control transaction.

If it feels like there have been more sponsor-to-sponsor transactions this year, you’d be right. These deals have always been a viable exit strategy, however they are rising to new levels of popularity.

The trend may be favorable for many in the lower middle market, but it is still troubling some LPs.

One of the most challenging aspects of selling a business is getting your buyer pool right. While you want to include enough buyers to complete the transaction, you also want to avoid sharing proprietary company information with more people than necessary.

However, evidence shows that you should almost always go broad, broad, broad.

During our recent retail-specific event, attendees discussed the trends in the retail space and the best practices for staying relevant in today’s environment.

Through the conversation, two clear themes emerged: proprietary processes and a high volume of visitors.