Legal help for the employee or management team buying the company they already run — from the first conversation with the owner through financing and closing.
You know the business better than any outside buyer ever will. What you probably don't know yet is how employees actually finance a purchase, what to propose, and how to raise it without making things awkward. Start here.
You — alone or with one or two colleagues — buy the shares or assets, financed by a bank or BDC loan plus the seller taking part of the price over time. The most common route for a small group of senior people, and the fastest.
You acquire ownership in stages while continuing to work — often starting with a minority stake and a shareholders' agreement that maps the rest. Lower financing risk, longer runway, needs careful drafting up front.
The whole team acquires the business through a trust funded by future earnings — no personal cheques from employees. Powerful for larger teams.
See the EOT page →Often, yes — and it happens more than most employees realize. Owners without an outside buyer frequently prefer selling to the people who already run the place: the transition is smoother, the legacy survives, and confidentiality is easier. The two usual routes are a management buyout (you, alone or with colleagues, buy the shares or assets) and an Employee Ownership Trust (the whole team acquires the business through a trust, funded by future earnings).
Almost never from savings. A typical management buyout combines three sources: a bank or BDC loan against the business itself, the seller agreeing to be paid part of the price over several years (a vendor take-back), and sometimes an earn-in where you acquire ownership in stages while working. In an Employee Ownership Trust, employees don't put up money personally at all — the business's future earnings fund the purchase. In every version, the financing structure is the deal; get advice before you propose numbers.
One side per deal, never both. If the owner has engaged us, we'll tell you promptly and point you to independent counsel — a buyer group in a management buyout needs its own lawyer regardless. If you come to us first and the owner hasn't, we can act for you. Either way, the question costs nothing to ask.
Carefully, and usually more welcome than you fear: 76% of Canadian owners plan to exit within a decade, and finding a buyer is their single biggest worry. A private, respectful conversation — 'if you ever think about succession, I'd want to be considered' — plants the flag without pressure. Don't lead with price, don't involve other employees until the owner is receptive, and don't sign anything before getting advice.
A 20-minute call before you approach the owner is the cheapest insurance there is: what to propose, what to never sign, and whether we're free to act for you.
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