Good news on share buybacks

Not the snappiest heading, granted, but in case you missed it, Friday 15th Februray was an important day for those of us involved in running and/or advising employee-owned businesses. BIS announced its response to the consultation process around the issue of share buybacks for private companies wishing to facilitate the passing on of shares from one generation of employees to the next. In short, there is a big tick for the main recommendations of the Nuttall Review, with changes to the Companies Act 2006 likely to be enacted via secondary legislation some time during 2013. Important changes include the ability in future for employee owned businesses to approve in advance the buying back of shares for passing on to other employees, introducing a simplified regime for the financing of buybacks and the ability for companies to hold shares bought back in treasury (i.e., without the need to cancel them). This is good news for the sector and we are pleased to have been one of the 48 respondents who helped to make this happen. Full details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/employee-ownership-and-share-buy-backs-consultation-on-implementation-of-nuttall-review-recommendations John