Step-by-step selling

By Steven Lamb | August 4, 2010 | Last updated on August 4, 2010
3 min read
  • Sheila Crummey, partner, McMillan;
  • Tony Ianni, president, Ernst & Young Orenda Corporate Finance;
  • Stephen Landau, partner, transaction advisory services, at Ernst & Young;
  • Ron Prehogan, president, Equitas Consultants;
  • Pearl Schusheim, partner, Couzin Taylor LLP.

    On the Shoulders of Atlas tells the story of the Banks family and the succession planning issues faced by patriarch Victor, founder of Atlas Plastics. “He still wanted to have a business that his family could continue to grow with, but he wanted to diversify some of the family’s wealth,” says Landau.

    Each of the book’s chapters tackles a different aspect of the plan: from the decision to either hold on to the company or sell it; how to go about selling the company and making the sale tax-efficient. And all the details are covered because when the authors aren’t busy writing books, they work together as a loosely knit team on business succession plans.

    “Like most business people, they look at what gets left in their jeans after the smoke clears, and so part of the exercise in maximizing the value of their business is to minimize the tax liability that gets triggered when you sell,” says Landau. The book goes beyond the transactional aspects to deal with the softer side of the family business, and how it defines the family that built it. “A large part of my work is to integrate the advisors and help families understand the advice they are given, which these days is often complex, difficult and hard to integrate for most ultra high-net-worth individuals,” says Betts.

    The final chapters deal with investing the proceeds of the sale and estate planning issues.

    Steven Lamb

  • Arnie Cader, president, Delphi Corp.;
  • Sheila Crummey, partner, McMillan;
  • Tony Ianni, president, Ernst & Young Orenda Corporate Finance;
  • Stephen Landau, partner, transaction advisory services, at Ernst & Young;
  • Ron Prehogan, president, Equitas Consultants;
  • Pearl Schusheim, partner, Couzin Taylor LLP.

    On the Shoulders of Atlas tells the story of the Banks family and the succession planning issues faced by patriarch Victor, founder of Atlas Plastics. “He still wanted to have a business that his family could continue to grow with, but he wanted to diversify some of the family’s wealth,” says Landau.

    Each of the book’s chapters tackles a different aspect of the plan: from the decision to either hold on to the company or sell it; how to go about selling the company and making the sale tax-efficient. And all the details are covered because when the authors aren’t busy writing books, they work together as a loosely knit team on business succession plans.

    “Like most business people, they look at what gets left in their jeans after the smoke clears, and so part of the exercise in maximizing the value of their business is to minimize the tax liability that gets triggered when you sell,” says Landau. The book goes beyond the transactional aspects to deal with the softer side of the family business, and how it defines the family that built it. “A large part of my work is to integrate the advisors and help families understand the advice they are given, which these days is often complex, difficult and hard to integrate for most ultra high-net-worth individuals,” says Betts.

    The final chapters deal with investing the proceeds of the sale and estate planning issues.