Prairie Capital Advisors, Inc. offers two broad areas of service with respect to ESOPs. First, we can work as an advisor to the current owner of a company and determine whether an ESOP is right for you. If so, we’ll even manage the implementation of the ESOP and assist with ESOP debt financing. Secondly, we can provide independent financial advisory and valuation services (such as fairness opinions) to the ESOP trust, as authorized by the trustee.

ESOPs present a unique combination of fields such as valuation, business transaction dynamics, tax law and regulatory compliance under ERISA. Knowledge in all of these areas is required to effectively and efficiently complete an ESOP transaction. Prairie Capital Advisors has the experience and expertise to both develop and maintain your ESOP program, taking all of the aforementioned fields into consideration.

As part of ESOP maintenance, Prairie Capital Advisors can provide annual stock valuations and advise the plan's trustee on the fairness of any new ESOP transaction. If it is necessary to terminate, freeze or convert the ESOP, Prairie Capital Advisors will advise the plan trustee on issues of valuation and financial fairness. We provide a full range of ESOP services:

• Acting as a financial advisor to the selling shareholder (or shareholders)
• Acting as a financial advisor to the trustee of the ESOP
• Transaction feasibility studies
• Stock valuation
• Transaction analysis
• Obtaining financing
• Security design
• Fairness opinions
• Solvency opinions
• Appraisal reviews
• Annual ESOP stock valuation
• Financial advice regarding the termination, freezing or conversion of an ESOP

Whether you need assistance with maintaining or restructuring your existing ESOP, or you think it might be time to accelerate your exit strategy, you can trust the corporate finance and investment banking experts at Prairie Capital Advisors to help guide your ESOP program and business into the future.