ARIES: Assisting the Realisation of Incentives and Employee Shares
Private companies are staying private for longer.
That can leave employee shareholders with real value on paper, but no clear route to liquidity before an exit or IPO.
An EBT can be a very useful tool in solving that problem.
Tom Hicks, Executive Director in our Employee Incentives team, has been looking at how existing EBT mechanics can be used to support controlled liquidity opportunities for employees in private companies.
We are calling the concept ARIES: Assisting the Realisation of Incentives and Employee Shares.
ARIES is not a new law or a new market. It is a practical application of existing trust, valuation and administration tools to help private companies create structured liquidity opportunities for employee shareholders.
Where properly structured, an EBT can do more than hold shares for employee incentives. It can act as a flexible liquidity hub, acquiring shares from employees or former employees and, where appropriate, holding, recycling or selling those shares to an existing investor, incoming investor, founder, company or other approved party.
That flexibility can help companies manage:
• employee liquidity
• future incentive funding
• nominee arrangements
• confidentiality
• cap table control
• multiple share classes
The aim is simple: help private companies unlock employee liquidity without losing control of the cap table, the process or the future value story.
Tom has kindly put together a short booklet on ARIES and would be very happy to discuss with anyone looking at employee liquidity or internal markets for private company shares.
Download the ARIES booklet here
For more information about ARIES, please contact Tom:
+44 7829 931 001