On Wednesday 30th January 2019, the CCGI held its 2nd annual event for family owned businesses.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, a platinum sponsor, facilitated the engaging and informative seminar which provided a variety of insights on Succession Planning. The seminar also dealt with topics linked to Succession Planning including Estate Planning & Tax Structuring for Family Owned Businesses & Valuation.
In their presentation, Zia Paton, Partner, Consulting & Shermarke Howard, Director, Consulting stated that “family businesses need to proactively plan for sustainable growth and succession”.
Participants were encouraged to “start by documenting a strategic plan that addresses both core business strategies and family ownership issues, choose an appropriate succession model that balances the need for control while understanding the available talent pool (family/non-family) and plan early, communicate frequently, support ongoing development and assess performance objectively."
Lisa Awai, Partner, Advisory Services and Kester Popplewell, Director, Advisory Services made their contributions on the topic of Valuation, noting that ‘there are many stages throughout the life cycle of a business where the valuation of your equity interest will play a pivotal role in planning how you move forward. It’s important to remember that price does not necessarily equate value, that the value of an equity interest is not necessarily valued on a pro-rata basis.....some blocks of shares are worth more than others dependent on the ability to influence and control operations and that the value of your business does not necessarily equate to the value of your equity interest in the business."
Angelique Bart, Partner, Tax & Legal Services urged the business owners and Managing Directors in attendance to “deal with succession planning and include your management and other key personnel in the process Deal with estate planning separately. Finally, start the process early and get help to move forward."
The session concluded with a lively discussion where business owners shared real life stories on the topic of succession planning. Panellists included Dale Parson, CEO Kaleidoscope Group, Brian Jahra, Executive Chairman, CinemaOne Limited and Joel Persico, Commercial Director, Unicomer (Trinidad) Limited.
CCGI Director, Fe Lopez – Collymore expressed her gratitude to additional sponsors which included Republic Bank, Guardian Group, Goddard Enterprises Limited and Oscar Francois Limited.
