Business
Transfers

Current affairs

• Articles > Equitable Distribution of the Family Patrimony September 12th, 2012
• Cas/Transactions > Bell Canada acquires The Createch Group September 26th, 2005

Overview

Helping you pass on the torch. That’s what we mean by a different kind of practice.

Our Team

Business transfers involve issues, challenges and risks. Much is at stake, and each detail of the transaction must be carefully and efficiently orchestrated. The members of our team are seasoned professionals who have played key roles in a multitude of intergenerational transfers, management buyouts and employee incentive plans. We understand the impact that these transactions have on you, your business and your loved ones. We have the expertise to handle the legal, commercial, tax and emotional complexity of such transactions.

Employee Incentive Plans

Every day our team helps businesses implement incentive plans aimed at attracting and retaining employees. The techniques and strategies adopted play a key role in strengthening employee loyalty. Incentive plans can also be a first step toward the transfer of your business.

We can help develop compensation tools that are as simple or as sophisticated as required, but always tailored to your needs. We regularly help implement stock option plans, bonus plans, deferred compensation plans and phantom stock plans.

We also take a pragmatic and creative approach to negotiating benefits for senior management, to setting up employee trusts and in realizing the partial sale of your business to key employees. Your employees are a valuable asset for your business. Not only do we ensure that the solutions are advantageous from a tax, legal and financial perspective, we can also help communicate these advantages to your employees for you to maximize all potential benefits.

Transfer of Family Businesses

Every transaction involving a the transfer of a family business is unique. The human, legal, financial and tax aspects set it apart from any other type of transaction. That’s why transferring a business to other family members requires special expertise. We pay close attention to preparing successors, setting up boards of directors and family councils, monitoring the interaction between key employees and family members and balancing the financial stake of family members as we do to implementing sophisticated tax and legal strategies that we use in these transactions.

Our human approach reflects the way we operate. We are mindful of the fact that, once the transfer is completed, family is still family. When the time comes to plan the transfer of your family business, you can rely on our team to provide professional and attentive service.

Management Buyouts

Often, the managers of a business are the logical choice to take over a business. Their knowledge of and experience in the business, however, may not necessarily make it any easier for them to secure the financing needed for the purchase.

Our team will share its management buyout expertise to guide you through the different steps. In addition to our experience in acquisitions, dispositions and financing, we are familiar with transactions involving buyers who know the business as well as – if not better than – the sellers. We also understand the importance of distinguishing between employer/employee and buyer/seller relationships as part of a management buyout, as well as the confidentiality obligation to which potential buyers are bound as employees, particularly when soliciting financing for the transaction. Moreover, our team never loses sight of the importance of maximizing tax benefits for all parties concerned.