Shareholder Agreements

Setting up a Shareholder Agreement

Often when starting a new business you are excited about the ideas that you have for the venture and the possibility of failure or breakdown in the relationship with your business partner is not something that is considered at all. However, often businesses will fail and without comprehensive documentation in place dealing with such scenarios, you may be forced into action that you would not otherwise wish to take.

Alternatively, you may have run your very successful business with your business partner for many years, but what would happen if your business partner was to die suddenly, would you want to continue running your business with their wife or family member? Without specific documentation in place, this is the situation that you may find yourself in.

Our specialist shareholder advisers can assist you in putting in place a shareholder agreement to deal with issues such as;

• Who must be involved in the decision making process in the company?
• Who is entitled to appoint or be appointed as a director?
• What happens if you and your business partner cannot agree on important issues?
• Providing mechanisms allowing you to purchase your business partner’s shares if they leave the business, die or simply want to sell their shares?
• What happens if you find someone who wants to buy the business but your business partner refuses to join and sell their shares?

Read our Shareholder Agreement Case Studies to find out what could happen if there is not a shareholder agreement in place:

Brian and Jamie  Case Study 1

Lucy and Sophie - Case Study 2

Debbie and Richard - Case Study 3

Seek expert legal advice

The specialist lawyers at Neves have extensive experience in assisting clients with putting a shareholder agreement in place. Contact our Commercial Law team on 0330 0945 500, email info@nevesllp.co.uk or complete our Contact Form and we’ll get back to you.