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Business Legal Services
Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs)
Preserve the legacy of your successful business
After years of building up your business, choosing to sell your business to an EOT requires careful thought and consideration, as does selecting the right legal team to guide you through the process.
We specialise in directing business owners through the complexities of EOTs, ensuring that you gain valuable tax advantages while preserving your legacy by allowing employees to share ownership in your company.
What we do
Navigating business owners through the EOT process
We aim to safeguard your business legacy and establish appropriate sale terms while ensuring your EOT is tailored to your specific needs and structured in compliance with legal requirements.
Selling to an EOT can boost employee and company productivity, enhance staff morale, and reduce absenteeism, while preserving the company’s ethos and culture by avoiding a third-party takeover. The sale is often quicker and simpler than selling to a third party, offers significant tax savings, and allows selling shareholders to remain involved in the business as profits are generated to pay any deferred consideration.
It’s crucial to seek expert legal advice early in the formation of an EOT to avoid unforeseen tax liabilities, ensure a smooth transaction, appoint the right trustees, and secure necessary clearances from HMRC.
Our first step will always be to get to know you and your business. From there we will:
Advise on the tax advantages of selling shares to an EOT and the qualifying conditions for tax reliefs
Obtain clearances in respect of the EOT from HMRC as required
Liaise with your accountants or other valuation advisers regarding the market value of the shares in your company and assist you on how to calculate the purchase price
Liaise with your existing shareholders, including any who don’t intend to sell to the EOT
Work with your employees to explain to them how the employee ownership trust will work, and how they can maximise the advantages of working in an employee-owned business
Help you decide how the sale will be funded, whether that’s paid over time out of profits or through some other funding arrangement
Advise on the choice of trustees for the EOT and establishing a corporate trustee if appropriate
Assist on employee representation at trustee level (and whether an employee council will be established)
Advise on and draft share transfer documents to be signed by the trustee of the EOT and the selling shareholders (including a Share Purchase Agreement and funding agreements as appropriate)
Assist on changes to the company’s management structure to which you would like to introduce
Complete the share sale to the EOT.
Advise on any post-completion employee share schemes and equity incentive arrangements
Additionally, we also provide comprehensive post-EOT transition support, helping businesses implement leadership and management incentives, establish tax-relief-eligible bonus schemes, and offering general corporate and trustee guidance.
Who we help
Business owners and accountants
We assist a variety of UK-based companies contemplating a sale, whether to a third party or to employees. Making the decision to exit a business is a hugely significant moment for anyone who has spent years building up a company, and you need the right advisors by your side. For EOTs we support the founding members with their sale along with supporting the new trustees of the EOT, your management teams and employees.
Additionally, we work with tax advisors and accountants, who play a crucial role throughout the EOT process.
Testimonials
What our clients say
Employee Ownership Trusts are quite a niche area, so while looking for a law firm that could give the correct advice, we were also looking for a team our client would approve of, being lawyers themselves. The price point was also attractive to us as we are a small business ourselves. As we act as an intermediary between our clients and lawyers, we always want to make sure our clients get the best deal possible whilst getting expert legal advice. Ian and the team at Harper James have been a pleasure to work with.
Kingsley Tedder
Founder,
Mobius Group
Thanks Sam and Nikki. We really appreciate all your help with our EOT transition and patience answering our questions to get to this point. I am sure there might be a few more that are thrown up as we start to communicate with the team, but it's a new chapter and one we are very much looking forward to.
Martin Coyne
Managing Director,
Bond & Coyne
I worked with Nikki on a recent EOT transaction, and it was an absolute pleasure. Nikki had a brilliant understanding of the unique requirements of an EOT transaction. The process ran incredibly smoothly – would highly recommend!
Martin Dean
Director,
Gravitate Corporate Finance
Nikki really stood out to us. She was incredibly professional, experienced and knowledgeable in her industry. She was very personal and friendly. Being the most complex transaction we've worked on, with multiple stakeholders involved, she did a great job at coordinating them. Nikki was extremely well organised and she made it as easy as possible for us to keep track of what was going on at different times. If there was something we didn't understand, she'd always follow-up with easy to digest explanations. Thank you Nikki and the team at Harper James!
Joanne Crighton
Finance & Administration Director,
Brickhunter
Employee Ownership Trusts are quite a niche area, so while looking for a law firm that could give the correct advice, we were also looking for a team our client would approve of, being lawyers themselves. The price point was also attractive to us as we are a small business ourselves. As we act as an intermediary between our clients and lawyers, we always want to make sure our clients get the best deal possible whilst getting expert legal advice. Ian and the team at Harper James have been a pleasure to work with.
Kingsley Tedder
Founder,
Mobius Group
Thanks Sam and Nikki. We really appreciate all your help with our EOT transition and patience answering our questions to get to this point. I am sure there might be a few more that are thrown up as we start to communicate with the team, but it's a new chapter and one we are very much looking forward to.
Martin Coyne
Managing Director,
Bond & Coyne
I worked with Nikki on a recent EOT transaction, and it was an absolute pleasure. Nikki had a brilliant understanding of the unique requirements of an EOT transaction. The process ran incredibly smoothly – would highly recommend!
Martin Dean
Director,
Gravitate Corporate Finance
Nikki really stood out to us. She was incredibly professional, experienced and knowledgeable in her industry. She was very personal and friendly. Being the most complex transaction we've worked on, with multiple stakeholders involved, she did a great job at coordinating them. Nikki was extremely well organised and she made it as easy as possible for us to keep track of what was going on at different times. If there was something we didn't understand, she'd always follow-up with easy to digest explanations. Thank you Nikki and the team at Harper James!
Joanne Crighton
Finance & Administration Director,
Brickhunter
Meet our team
Why choose our EOT solicitors?
Our EOT and corporate specialists have extensive experience in setting up and advising on EOT sales, providing selling shareholders with the support needed to ensure a smooth and swift process.
Additionally, we offer comprehensive commercial legal advice across a wide range of services, delivering a fully integrated approach that aligns with your business objectives. Our team, recruited from top UK law firms and large businesses, brings a wealth of experience as both external advisors and in-house corporate counsel.
Find out more about who you’ll be working with:
Pricing and service plans
Legal support designed
to fit your business needs
Our three transparent service plans are designed to give you the widest possible access to high-quality legal advice, whatever the size and nature of your business:
Engage
Flexible access to senior solicitors at highly competitive rates
An alternative to our subscription plans, offering access to full service legal expertise on a project-by-project basis.
Enable
Purpose built legal support for start-ups and smaller businesses
Monthly subscription plan for £215 per month, with £145 monthly credit and access to all legal services at 50% discount on our Standard Rates.
Extend
Comprehensive legal partnership for established businesses
Fully account managed and scalable annual subscription plan with support from a curated team of partners and senior solicitors, with up to 34% discount on our Standard Rates.
Understanding EOTs
If an employee ownership trust is one of the exit options you are considering, we have compiled some content addressing key questions you should ask yourself to help you determine if an EOT is the right path for you.
Find out more about EOT benefits and frequently asked questions below.