We host a monthly webinar series with the intent of teaching a narrow topic deep (as opposed to covering the surface of a wide topic).  Our webinar for the month of July will be held this Thursday (July 9, 2020) at 10:00 Central and is entitled “Public Companies and ESOPs: Check Yes or No” [Sign Up Here].

The purpose of this webinar is to discuss various pros and cons associated with a publicly-traded corporation (“PubCo“) sponsoring an employee stock ownership plan (an “ESOP“).  To that end, our discussion will focus on administrative and transaction design issues of PubCo sponsoring an ESOP, including:

  • Why PubCo would consider sponsoring an ESOP (i.e., the pro v. con analysis),
  • Typical fiduciary structures that can help to limit or contain fiduciary liability,
  • How to structure contributions of newly issued stock by PubCo to the ESOP trust,
  • Structuring contributions of cash by PubCo to the ESOP trust for purposes of the latter to purchase shares in the open market,
  • Incorporating ESOPs into PubCo’s “poison pill” analysis,
  • Diversification requirements,
  • Whether a Form S-8 (and related Form 11-K) is required or advisable, and related Rule 144 restrictions, and
  • Pass-through voting issues.

Hope you can make it!