Review & strategy
Analysis of your situation (business, family, assets), definition of the objectives (family transfer, sale, mixed), choice of the appropriate tools.
→ Executives · Sub-expertise
Transferring a business is one of the most complex operations in an executive's journey: tax issues, family balance, future governance. A transfer prepared 5 to 10 years in advance can reduce the tax burden several-fold and preserve the business. We design bespoke transfer plans, articulated with your tax and wealth advisers.
→ What we cover
Analysis of your situation (business, family, assets), definition of the objectives (family transfer, sale, mixed), choice of the appropriate tools.
Implementation of the Dutreil pact to benefit from the 75% allowance: collective commitment, individual commitment, management functions, monitoring of the commitments.
Gift-partition between children to fix the value of the transferred assets and avoid subsequent conflicts when settling the succession.
Structuring of a family LBO to allow one or more children to take over the business via a holding company, with partial liquidity for the other heirs.
Dismemberment of the shares (gift of the bare ownership, retention of the usufruct) to transfer while retaining the income and governance until death.
Preparation of post-transfer governance: shareholders' agreement between heirs, tailored articles of association, family committee, dispute-resolution mechanisms.
→ Our approach
01
Analysis of the business, the family, the assets, each party's plans (successor, passive heirs, spouse), and definition of the overall strategy.
02
Design of a transfer plan combining the appropriate tools (Dutreil, gift-partition, dismemberment, family LBO), with tax and asset modelling.
03
Operational implementation: signing of commitments, completion of gifts, creation of structures, formalisation of future governance.
04
Monitoring of commitments (holding period, functions), support for post-transfer governance, adjustments in line with family developments.
→ Who we help
Transfer of the business to a successor child via a family LBO: acquisition holding company, bank financing, balancing payment to siblings, articulation with the Dutreil pact.
Gift-partition between several children with preferential allocation of the business to the successor and equitable compensation to the others (real estate, cash, other assets).
Progressive transfer strategy through gifts of bare ownership in dismemberment, retaining the usufruct and governance until the operational handover.
Partial sale to a fund with reinvestment by the executive, then progressive transfer of the balance to the next generation via Dutreil and dismemberment.
→ Q&A
Ideally 5 to 10 years before the actual transfer. Several reasons: the duration of the Dutreil commitments (2 years collective + 4 years individual), the time needed for structuring (holding company, shareholders' agreement), the progressive integration of the successor, tax and asset anticipation.
Very effective: the gift-partition with a Dutreil commitment combines the 75% allowance on the value of the shares, the possible dismemberment (reduction of duties on the bare ownership) and the freezing effect of the gift-partition (no revaluation on death). A benchmark strategy for the family transfer.
Yes, essential when several heirs receive shares. The agreement organises governance (who runs the business), vetoes on major decisions, exit rights, the handling of disagreements. Without an agreement, family conflicts can paralyse and destroy the business.
Several options: sale to a third party (industrial buyer, fund, MBO), with asset optimisation via contribution-then-sale (article 150-0 B ter) to a holding company for reinvestment; transfer by gift to children who will then sell; a combination of sale and asset transfer.
→ Go further
Let's talk. We respond within one business day to qualify your transaction and direct you to the firm's most suitable lawyer.
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