ESOP TRUSTEE

Newly formed or existing Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are occasionally faced with major decisions that may dramatically affect the ESOP and its participants. The decision may be whether or not to purchase shares of stock, to sell some or all of its shares of stock to unrelated or related parties or perhaps to consider a refinancing or restructuring of ESOP debt. For any given transaction, an on-going trustee of an ESOP, who is often a corporate officer, may have a conflict of interest or, in light of the Department of Labor's close scrutiny of ESOPs, may not want the responsibility of making the decision. This presents a dilemma for the ESOP. To address the dilemma, the ESOP may consider engaging a Transactional Trustee who will serve as ESOP Trustee for the sole purpose of evaluating a proposed transaction and rendering a decision. After the transaction is either consummated or rejected, the Transactional typically resigns as Trustee of the ESOP and is replaced by an on-..

Primary location: Virginia Beach United States