Business transaction & succession plan
The circumstances
Divya is a 55-year-old owner and manager of a tech business which developed software for manufacturing that she developed 15 years ago.
She grew the business to a point where she was approached by private equity to buy it off her, and she successfully sold it with our assistance. Divya now has $40 million in windfall gains, and also has property in trusts, a SMSF, listed shares, and digital assets. She needed help with protecting these assets.
Divya is divorced with an adult son and daughter and a new partner who she is not married to. It was crucial to ensure that Divya’s assets were protected and controlled by the right people and passed on to the right individuals at the right time.
Capital Five’s considerations
Maximising proceeds from the business transaction
We were involved in the sale of Divya’s business and worked with her to maximise the sale price and to minimise the tax implications.
Asset control
Divya chose her adult daughter to pass on control of her assets with her lawyer jointly if something were to happen to her. Together they would manage how her assets would be transitioned but it was important for Divya that both children benefit equally. We changed all her trust deeds and constitutions of companies to ensure all companies and trusts would be controlled by her daughter and lawyer equally.
Succession planning
We set up Divya’s will with her two children benefiting equally.
Future-proofing
We considered the risk of claims from her current partner, and also in the event of her two children going through a future divorce and structured her companies and trusts to minimise the success of any claims.
By being involved in the process of helping Divya sell her business and then protect the wealth and assets from her years of hard work, we were able to give her peace of mind that her assets are protected and will be controlled by the right people if anything were to happen to her.