We have some big news from Acclaro and its managing director and ESOP advisor Chris Best. Acclaro has recently announced that they’re opening a new branch in the Chicago marketing area. This new office will be in addition to their location in Phoenix, Arizona. Chris Best had the following to say about the new office, “The new office in Chicago will better enable Acclaro to serve the business valuation and exit planning needs of our Midwest clients.”
The new Chicago branch will be headed by Glenn Ball, who has has provided tax, accounting, and business valuation services to privately held businesses since 2000. He is an an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He also holds the Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) credential.
This is big news for ESOPs because Acclaro is a leading authority on the valuation of businesses that sponsor ESOPs. They always strive to provide their clients with independent, technically sound, well-researched, and defensible valuation reports. And they’re just the type of company you can form important connections with through the ESOP Marketplace.
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Katten Muchin Rosenman advisor and ESOP law expert Ann Kim has contributed a new article to ESOP Marketplace, called “ESOP Fact Sheet”. The article is designed as an in-depth introduction to ESOPs, and, aside from clear explanations of the plan’s nature and tax benefits, includes a preliminary checklist that can show, in no-nonsense terms, whether an ESOP is right for your company. The article also includes case studies of ESOP transactions and the impact they can have on company cash flow, vs. other types of buyouts.
Click to read the article today!
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Chris Best, our most recent addition to the ESOP Marketplace, will be presenting at the upcoming National Center for Employee Ownership seminar.
The National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) is an organization that serves as the leading source of accurate, unbiased information on ESOPs and other compensation plans. The NCEO has done a lot of great work in our field and they’ve helped to move this industry forward. For more information about the NCEO and their contributions to ESOPs you can read our interview with the founder, Corey Rosen.
The title of the seminar Chris Best will be presenting is “Determining Stock Value.” During the presentation, Chris will clarify the process used to value ESOP-owned shares in an S corporation. It’s a presentation that Chris Best is highly qualified to present as the managing director at Acclaro Valuation Advisors. That’s why Chris is the featured ESOP advisor for our business valuation section. If your business needs help with its valuation efforts, you can’t go wrong by enlisting the help of Chris Best.
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Katten Muchin Rosenman advisor and ESOP lawyer Ann Kim has a number of articles featured on ESOP Marketplace. One of those is “Employee Stock Ownership Plans in Corporate Transactions”, an explanation of ESOPs in corporate transactions, the structure of such plans as part of leveraged buyouts, and the tax benefits that an ESOP can bring.
Click to read the entire article now!
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Visitors to ESOPMarketplace.com can now read an article by Katten Muchin Rosenman advisor Ann Kim. The article, the first in a series, explains the Katten advisor profile, and lists a number of tax benefits that can be gotten by implementing an ESOP. To find out more, check the article on ESOP tax benefits right now!
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The legendary meeting in November 1973 between economist Louis Kelso and Senator Russell Long was the key moment when ESOPs stopped being merely an esoteric financial instrument, and began their path towards the tax code. While Long was initially resistant to the idea of expanded ownership, and the ERISA tax law contained provisions that would eliminate ESOPs as they’re known today, Kelso’s passion proved to be infectious, and after their dinner together, Long became a major advocate for ESOPs.
In the process of seeking out first-hand sources and ESOP professionals to interview about the early days of ESOPs, we found Norman Kurland’s excellent account of the meeting of minds between Kelso and Long.
The push to get ESOPs into law went through a torturous and uncertain process. The National Maritime Union approached Kurland and Kelso to help them save the passenger ship industry, and the plan they developed became the subject of hearings in Congress. At the time, Long rejected it, unhappy with the redistributive aspects of the plan.
However, George & Charles Pillsbury, of Pillsbury Corporation, were interested in ESOPs, and, coming from the opposite parts of the political spectrum, were able to get Kurland and Kelso in touch with prominent Senate Democrats and Republicans alike.
Through their new connections, and exposure from 1973 hearings on saving the troubled US freight rail system, where they presented a plan similar to the Maritime Union, Kelso and Kurland’s name began to spread around Washington.
The ideas eventually filtered to Russell Long’s executive assistant, Wayne Thevenot, and after meeting Kelso, he began working towards arranging a face-to-face between Kelso and Long.
On November 26, 1973, Long was ready to hear about ESOPs. A dinner took place, with Long, Thevenot, Kurland and Kelso in attendance.
It’s difficult to get even four minutes of face time with Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The meeting between Kelso and Long lasted for four hours… and at the end, Long picked up the tab.
From then on, ESOPs had the most powerful backer on Capitol Hill that anyone could have hoped for. Long pushed to include ESOP provisions in the Internal Revenue Code, as part of the 1974 ERISA act; those provisions are there to this day.
Read more at the original article, or check out a different angle on the tale from ESOP lawyer and Kelso associate Roland Attenborough.
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ESOP Law expert Gregory Brown has graciously agreed to be interviewed for the ESOP Marketplace Advisor Hall of Fame section. The interview touched on ESOP history and Brown’s own experiences working in the industry, beginning in the mid-1970s.
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Wendy Lankes is a principal for the firm of R.K. Schaaf Associates, Inc., and also serves as its Vice President. As a qualified plan consultant, she has been actively involved in the retirement benefits industry since 1985.
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Sue Ledingham has been immersed in the qualified plan recordkeeping and consulting industry, focusing primarily on the unique technical aspects of employee stock ownership plans for over 35 years.
Sue’s depth of knowledge starts with the preliminary feasibility analysis necessary to determine whether an ESOP is the right vehicle for an employer, and carries through the entire life of an ESOP, to plan termination and final distributions.
Sue Ledingham was interviewed for the ESOP Advisor Hall of Fame in June 2012. Read her interview online at ESOPMarketplace.com
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Nancy Stern counsels ERISA fiduciaries on the exercise of their duties in the context of a corporate transaction and works closely with other members of our ESOP practice. She helps ESOP companies with transactional issues, corporate governance matters, securities issues and subordinated debt and equity-based financing arrangements. Ms. Stern has extensive experience coordinating complex ESOP transactions.
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