Meet our feasibility study panel

Baxendale Employee Ownership is a specialist employee ownership adviser with over 25 years’ experience and more than 350 successful transitions completed. Employee ownership and succession planning are its sole focus. The team manages the full transition journey, including feasibility, structuring, HMRC clearance, legal documentation, employee communications, trustee training and completion. Baxendale works with businesses across different sectors and sizes, with many clients employing between 10 and 100 people. Its focus is on creating sustainable, independent employee ownership structures that help businesses thrive over the long term.

• EO structures
• Governance
• Employee engagement

Cristín Craig

cristin.craig@baxendale-eo.co.uk

Simon Everingham

simon.everingham@baxendale-eo.co.uk

A&L Goodbody is a leading corporate law firm in Northern Ireland. The firm supports founder-led, family-owned, SME and mid-market businesses exploring Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) as a sustainable succession and ownership solution. It provides end-to-end legal support, from initial planning and transaction delivery through to post-transition governance and employee ownership implementation. By advising on trustee arrangements, governance structures and stakeholder engagement, A&L Goodbody helps businesses not only complete an EOT transaction, but also make employee ownership work effectively in practice. Supporting clients beyond completion, the firm works with businesses as they transition to employee ownership, helping to embed the model and support long-term success.

• EOT structures and implementation
• Succession planning
• Governance

Peter Stafford

pstafford@algoodbody.com

Co-ownership Solutions is a specialist adviser to businesses considering, implementing or developing employee ownership. The team helps owners assess whether employee ownership is the right succession route, design and complete Employee Ownership Trust transactions, and establish governance arrangements that work in practice. Since its establishment, Co-ownership Solutions has supported over 170 businesses across the UK through the legal, financial and practical challenges of becoming employee-owned. Its work extends beyond the transaction itself, including advice to trustee and company boards, independent trustee services, trustee training, governance reviews, and support to strengthen employee engagement and ownership culture. Its approach combines specialist technical knowledge with clear, practical advice tailored to each business and its people.

• EOT structures
• Succession planning
• EOT implementation

Maneely Mc Cann is a leading independent firm of chartered accountants, tax and business advisers based in Belfast, with one of the most experienced employee ownership teams in the local market. Its corporate finance team has advised on several completed EOT transactions. The team guides owners from initial feasibility through indicative valuation, affordability modelling, deal structuring, HMRC clearances and funding to completion, and beyond into post-completion accounting and governance. Maneely Mc Cann works mainly with owner-managed and family businesses across a broad range of sectors, helping shareholders weigh employee ownership against other succession routes and design structures that work for the company, the exiting owners and the employees alike.

• EOT structures
• Valuation and affordability
• Succession planning
• Tax planning