Employee share option schemes are an excellent way of incentivising key staff to participate in the growth of your business. We would be very happy to assist with establishing your employee share option scheme, in conjunction with your tax advisers. If you are concerned about giving away equity, a “phantom share scheme” (whereby employees receive a cash bonus on an exit equivalent to that which they would have received if they had held shares) is another possibility.

In a company with few shareholders, where the shareholders would like the option to purchase the shares of a deceased shareholder so that they do not have to deal with his/her estate or beneficiaries, a cross-option arrangement is a potential solution. Under a cross-option arrangement, each shareholder has the option to buy out the other on the other’s death, with funding for the purchase provided by life insurance policies on each shareholder.

We are experienced in setting up both employee share schemes and cross-option arrangements.