Share Plans/Employee Benefit Trusts
Long term incentive plans are a powerful way for international employers to attract, retain, motivate and reward. Share and bonus plans are fundamental to any competitive remuneration package for global executives and employees.
Broadly speaking, EBTs are discretionary trusts, located in the jurisdiction of your choice, with the employee (and often their spouse, dependants or civil partner) as the beneficiary. The trust can hold cash, shares, share options and rights, or some combination, and make transfers as appropriate.
EBT plans can be tailored to the employer’s objectives for the trust and the wider company. They often form the basis of management incentive plans, long-term incentive plans, joint share ownership plans, performance share plans, deferred bonus plans and the like, with the trustees responsible for making awards to employees who meet particular conditions (often employment- or performance-related).
Using an EBT to offer staff a vested ownership stake links their rewards and motivations directly to those of the wider business. The trust can even be designed to support a managed change of company ownership, paving the way for a management buy-out for example. TMF Group creates, maintains and administers flexible, efficient structures for a wide range of trust-based incentive arrangements.
We have been providing these services to clients of all sizes and from all sectors for more than 15 years – everyone from a small start-up to a large multi-national.