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Rolling Over Target Equity Into A PE Fund: Part I

January 30, 2017

For many business owners, the final step of a successful career may be the sale of their business. At that point, the investment into which the owners have dedicated so much time, effort and money is liquidated, leaving them with what is hopefully a significant pool of funds with which to enjoy their retirement, diversify their assets, or pursue other goals.private equity

It used to be that the prospective buyer would almost always come from within the same industry (or one related to it) as the business being sold. It was often a competitor, or someone seeking to fill a void in their own business. In other words, the buyers were strategic and were looking for synergistic acquisitions – ones that would enable them to grow their own business and provide long-term benefits.

Over the last several years, however, a new type of buyer has emerged: the private equity fund (“PEF”). In general, PEFs are not engaged in any “conventional” business. Rather, they are well-funded investment vehicles that are engaged in the acquisition of conventional businesses (“portfolio companies”). A PEF will often create a holding company (“HC”) that, in turn, will use subsidiary companies to acquire target businesses. Almost by definition, a PEF is not necessarily looking to develop long-term synergistic relationships from an acquisition. Instead, it is looking to add to its portfolio of companies that it, in turn, hopes to sell to another buyer in the not-too-distant future, hopefully at a gain for the PEF’s investors.

Roll-Over: PEF’s Perspective

One facet of a PEF acquisition that tends to distinguish it from a strategic buyer acquisition is the PEF’s strong preference that the owners of a target business “roll over” (or reinvest) some portion of their equity investment in the target business into the PEF’s “corporate structure” in exchange for a minority interest therein. From the perspective of the PEF, such a roll-over yields several benefits. For one thing, it aligns the former owners of the target business with the interests of the PEF – their rolled-over investment is at risk similar to that of the PEF’s investors. Thus, the former owners are incentivized (the theory goes) to remain with the business, to cooperate fully in the transition of the business and its customers, and to work toward its continued growth and success. The roll-over also saves the PEF some money: issuing equity is less expensive than paying out funds that the PEF already has or that it has to borrow.

Roll-Over: Seller’s Perspective

From the perspective of the target’s owner, however, the roll-over may present a troublesome issue.

In many cases, an owner will want to take all of his cash off the table. He may not want to continue risking his capital, especially where the investment is to be controlled by another.

Of course, some owners will be attracted to the potential upside that a roll-over investment in a PEF may generate. After all, the owner may have the opportunity to benefit not only from the future growth of his former business (to which similar businesses may have been added by the PEF), but also that of the PEF’s other portfolio companies. In fact, a business owner may even insist upon being given the opportunity to participate in the growth of these other companies (which is generally consistent with most PEF’s desire that the owners invest at the same level of the corporate structure as the PEF has).

However, the owner may also insist that the roll-over be effected without any adverse tax consequences. The ability of the PEF to satisfy this request will depend, in no small part, upon the form of the acquisition of the target business.

Acquisition Mechanics

Like most other buyers, the PEF will prefer an acquisition of the target’s assets, in a transaction that is taxable to the target, over an acquisition of the equity interests of the target’s owners. A taxable sale of assets will provide the PEF (specifically, its HC) with a depreciable or amortizable basis in the acquired assets that may be written off by the PEF over the useful lives of the assets. The tax deductions so generated will offset the PEF’s income, thereby allowing the PEF to recover some of its investment in the target’s business and reducing the overall cost of the transaction to the PEF.

The target’s owners, on the other hand, will generally not prefer an asset sale because such a sale may result in both the recognition of ordinary income by the target’s owners as well as an entity-level tax, thus reducing the net economic benefit to the owners. Rather, they would choose to sell their equity interest in the target, at least in the case of a corporate target. The gain realized on such a sale will generally be treated as long-term capital gain. However, such a sale will not generate a depreciable or amortizable basis for the PEF.

Roll-Over: Mechanics

In general, a PEF will create a subsidiary corporation or LLC as the HC through which it will acquire a target. This HC will, at least initially, be wholly-owned by the PEF. Where the assets of a target are being purchased, each target acquisition may be completed through an acquisition vehicle (another corporation or LLC) that will be wholly-owned by the HC. In this way, the assets of one business may be protected from the liabilities of another.

The form of roll-over by the target’s owners will depend upon the form of the acquisition. Thus, where the HC is acquiring the equity interests of the target owners, the roll-over will come directly from the former owners. Where the HC is acquiring the target’s assets, the roll-over may, at least in theory, come from the target. However, if the PEF insists that it must come from the target’s owners, then the proceeds paid to the target will have to find their way into the hands of its owners to enable them to acquire equity in the HC.

The chosen forms of acquisition and roll-over will generate very different tax and economic results for both the PEF and the target’s owners. Thus, it is imperative that the target’s owners examine the nature of both the PEF’s acquisition vehicle and of the target (e.g., corporation or partnership/LLC), and the nature of the sale (a sale of equity interests in the target or a sale of the target’s assets). They must consider how their equity roll-over can be effectuated, and whether this transfer may be done tax-efficiently.

The owners of the target business have to recognize that if the roll-over cannot be accomplished on a tax-free (or, more accurately, tax-deferred) basis, they may be left with less liquidity than they would have preferred.

Check back tomorrow for a discussion of the specific effects of a roll-over depending on the types of entity involved and the approach taken in various scenarios.