My client is a company whose former owners sold out to a private equity house (‘the House’) a year ago. As part of that transaction a number of members of the senior management team subscribed for shares in the company at par (i.e. they paid the shares’ nominal value and nothing else). Since the deal it has become necessary to recruit two further managers who have been promised an award of free shares representing 4% of the company. The company is starting to perform well and repay the debt used to fund the deal which means that there may be some current value in the company’s shares. What routes are open to my client to satisfy these share promises?
In a private equity transaction
