Sell your business and secure your legacy
Are you planning to retire or exit your business? Do you want to preserve your legacy and need support in planning for the future? Consider selling your business to your workers with Cooperation Buffalo’s help.
Converting a small business to employee ownership can anchor a lasting legacy for you and your business; offer a financially rewarding exit path; and have positive impacts on employee engagement, productivity, and retention. Small business owners are increasingly seeing employees as highly desirable buyers because their expertise operating the business offers continuity, buoys company value, and preserves the business’s commitment to the community.
​
Cooperation Buffalo is a nonprofit business support organization that can provide you with experienced professional assistance and loan capital to support this transition.
The Small Business Closure Crisis
As the Silver Tsunami of baby boomer business owners retire, our local business landscape is going through a dramatic shift.
Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy, making up over 99% of all firms and providing more than half of private sector jobs. Locally owned businesses circulate three times more money back into the local economy than absentee-owned firms or corporate chains. And local businesses are based on local relationships, fostering trust and civic engagement.
Over half of all privately held businesses with employees have owners that are close to retirement. The vast majority of business owners do not have a succession plan in place, and increasingly, many are finding it hard to find a buyer when they are ready to sell.
​
Data from Project Equity tells us that:
57% of businesses in Erie County, NY
are owned by people aged 55+
8,998
Businesses
Employing
115,000 Workers
Generating $21B
in Revenue
Your partners in this process
Technical Assistance
Cooperation Buffalo provides professional technical assistance that includes business planning, financial modeling, developing transition plans for owner roles and other operational changes, and education for workers stepping into new responsibilities.
Lenders
Cooperation Buffalo can provide loan capital to support an ownership transition when appropriate. Our loans are non-extractive and supportive of the workers who will become owners of the business.
Legal & Accounting
Your trusted legal and accounting professionals will be integral to the process of selling your business and ensuring your financial future.
Who are the players in a successful conversion to employee ownership?
Engaged Employees
Perhaps the most important ingredient in a successful transition to employee ownership is a core group of invested and experienced employees who are passionate about transitioning to a worker cooperative.
National Employee
Ownership Support
Cooperation Buffalo leverages relationships with national employee ownership resources to bring you the best information and services, including Workers to Owners Collaborative and the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives.
How it works
Explore
the Idea
We provide resources to key stakeholders, generally the owners and trusted partners, to learn more about the process of conversion. We also perform an initial assessment of the financial, operational, and legal status of your business.
Assess Your Business
We employ technical experts, with the owner’s consent and assistance, to take a deeper dive into a business’ financial statements, operations, and legal context to better understand the enterprise.
Structure the Transition
Once due diligence is completed, and the viability of a company is confirmed, the technical experts, business owner, and often key employees will collaboratively develop a transition plan to transfer owner duties to new employee-owners, and finalize the deal terms.
Good for
the business
Employee ownership and employee participation yield substantial improvements in firm performance. Attract talent and lower employee turnover. Worker ownership keeps companies competitive by engaging all employees as problem-solvers and innovators.
Good for the
business owner
Capitalize on the value you have invested and created for the business. Selling to employees is a flexible exit strategy. Selling owners can reduce involvement in the company on your own timeline. Protect jobs and reward the employees who helped make the company successful. Preserve your legacy and institutionalize the values and culture of the company you built. This is not generally possible in a sale to a competitor or private equity firm. Access tax benefits available for worker-owned businesses.
Good for
the community
Profits of the business go to employees, not distant investors, building community wealth and strong local economies. Employee-owned companies provide quality jobs with better compensation and meaningful participation. Business stays locally rooted and invested in the community.
Benefits of
Employee-ownership Conversion
Frequently Asked Questions
What is employee ownership?
In an employee-owned company, the workers—not outside shareholders—own their workplace. Employee-owned companies are found throughout the world, in almost every industry, and are often leaders in their field.
I’ve heard about ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plans). How is this different?
An ESOP is a business form that allows employees to own all or some of a company’s shares through a trust, as a retirement plan. Because of this legal structure, the up-front cost of becoming an ESOP can be high. Cooperation Buffalo supports conversions to a worker cooperative structure wherein ownership and control of the business is held directly by employees, not by a trust. Conversions to worker-cooperatives are better suited to small businesses with a worth of $1 to $10 million, while ESOPs are often a good fit for larger businesses.
I’m unfamiliar with employee ownership. How widespread is the practice?
Although employee ownership may not sound familiar, about 17 million people in the US work in some form of employee-owned business.
How will the sale be financed?
Cooperation Buffalo can assist you and the workers in accessing funds to transition your business to employee ownership and we will provide long-term business support after the sale.