In recent weeks we at BusinessTV and many of our content partners have been delving into the topic of Employee Ownership Trusts. They are certainly proving to be a hot topic right now and for good reason.

They offer a tax free, non adversarial, straightforward way of selling your business while keeping it running for the benefit of those who have help build it, your employees.

As a business owner you’ll still be able to sell your company for the same amount that you’d expect to receive from an open market trade sale and the entire process can comfortably be achieved within 3-4 months.

For virtually all business owners who choose this route to exit the deciding factor determining whether it will ultimately be possible is funding.

Can you secure the right level of funding that allows you to receive the value of your business over a time frame that’s acceptable to both you, the exiting seller, and the Employee Ownership Trust, the new owner?

To explore funding we’ve chatted to Oliver Wilson of Shawbrook who are specialist lenders to SME’s and who know all about funding EOT transactions.

In our interview with Oliver, who is Shawbrook’s Managing Director of corporate lending, he gives the lenders’ perspective on what they are looking for from the borrowing company; he gives insight into what percentage of the value of your business you can realistically expect to extract on day one of the sale and runs through the options available as the deal matures.

As you’ll discover, there is much a company can do to improve their chances of raising finance, and the terms of each deal are often customised and flexible.

This interview is now live so please find it at this link…Funding the Sale of Your Business to an Employee Ownership Trust

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