Douglas Roberts

Employee ownership is the process of over 50 per cent of a company’s shares being transferred to the staff of that company, and it is typically done by entrepreneur or family-owned businesses which have no obvious succession plan.

Employee ownership is not a new concept, but its popularity has grown exponentially in recent years. Lindsays has gone from completing a single EO deal two years ago to five in 2019.

Douglas Roberts, a director in Lindsays corporate team and an EO specialist, said: “We will look back and see employee ownership as the biggest revolution in succession planning this century.

“Although there is nothing new in the concept of employee ownership, the incentive to move to employee ownership is being created by the unprecedented social change we are seeing in the early part of this century.

“Family businesses, in particular, are seeing a hole in succession planning due to the opportunities available to Generation X and Y, which are leading to them breaking the chain of succession.

“At Lindsays we advised on seven EO deals during 2019, and we expect to see this number will rise in 2020.”