Succession & Admitting New Shareholders (Whangarei)

Every business owner will need to pass the reigns over some day. This can either be in a planned and orderly process – or not.

This Business Owners Forum event will be held at Elevate CA from 5:30pm to 7:00pm on Thursday 16 September.

Format will be a panel discussion covering:

Some of the issues and fish-hooks in admitting new shareholders to a business as a way to bring in new blood and pave the way towards succession.

Ways the purchase of shares by an incoming shareholder can be structured to protect the interests of both parties.

Some of the issues that can result in a mismatch of expectations and agendas between the parties – and ways these can be mitigated.

Ways the purchase of shares by an incoming shareholder can be financed where that person has the desired attributes but not necessarily the means to purchase outright.

As always, Business Owners Forum events are targeted to owners of businesses in the $1 million plus turnover bracket – although all business owners are very welcome. These events are free of charge to attend – and along with the other Whangarei BOF supporters (BNZ, The Bottom Line Expense Reduction and Webb Ross Lawyers), we also put on liquid refreshments and pizzas to lubricate quality discussion.

On the panel will be:

Stuart Spicer, Partner at Webb Ross Lawyers. Stuart is experienced in dealing with the issues of succession and structuring the admittance of new shareholders from a legal perspective. He will give some valuable insights from some of the deals he has been involved in – and discuss some of the issues that you should consider in this situation.

Geoff Grigg, Business Banking Partner at BNZ. One of the big challenges with dealing with incoming shareholders is often that the new shareholder struggles to fund the purchase and to contribute to working capital. The established shareholders may be unwilling to allow the company assets to be used to guarantee debt, and the deal can fall over because of financing issues. Geoff will discuss some of the ways these deals can be financed so they work for all parties.

Fraser Hurrell, a director of Elevate CA Limited. Fraser has worked through the process of succession and admitting new shareholders with many clients large and small. He has seen first hand what works and what doesn’t work – and will share some enlightening war stories along with best practice on how to plan well ahead to make sure the process stands the best possible chance of success.

If you’d like to be invited to this – or any other Business Owners Forum event, just contact Fraser Hurrell by email.