How to transfer to employee ownership?

Creating Enterprise CIC

The process of transferring to employee ownership is very similar to that of a Management Buy-Out.

The main difference is the larger group of stakeholders investing in the business and the potential Trust arrangement set up to manage the interests of the employees. 


Moving to employee ownership guide

A typical transfer process may look something like this: 

  1. Initial discussions with the business owners.
  2. Evaluation of employee/management ownership potential.
  3. Valuation of the company.
  4. Development of ownership model and deal structure. 
  5. Business planning for new company/new management team. 
  6. Agreement on offer to buy the business by the buy-out team. 
  7. ‘In principle’ offer presented to owners. 
  8. Finance raised. 
  9. Agree Heads of Terms. 
  10. Legal work - Sale and Purchase, Trust Deals, Trust Company.
  11. Completion. 
  12. Post completion support. 

Would you like to speak to somebody about employee ownership?

Please contact Business Wales by calling 03000 603 000 and quoting ‘EO2016’. We will be happy to arrange an informal discussion with one of our Social Business Wales employee ownership experts.

Before making a final decision, check out some more frequently asked questions about employee ownership.