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EFES NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2026
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European
Tragedy in London
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A
full-scale experiment is currently underway in London.
It shows that a low-cost tax policy for the Treasury
can have a major impact on the transfer of businesses
to employees. This is of interest to all Europeans and
beyond.
Over
the past ten years, employee ownership in SMEs has seen
extraordinary growth in Great Britain. We were rapidly
moving towards a situation where one in ten SMEs would
be employee-owned. In most cases, employees become 100%
owners of their company. Without having to spend a single
penny of their own money. This success was due to the
introduction of the Employee Ownership Trust
(EOT) mechanism in 2014.
The world has never seen the likes of it before.
And
then... Rachel Reeves, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer
in the UK government decided to retax business transfers
to employees. Instead of a 100% tax exemption on capital
gains when transferring a company to employees, this
exemption has now been cut to 50%. The effect is dramatic.
Overnight, business transfers to employees in
Great Britain have been abruptly stopped.
In
May, the number of new EOTs was the lowest recorded
since 2021.
There
is only one way to avert disaster. It is essential
to reinstate the 100% exemption on capital gains relating
to the sale of a company to employees.
More
info
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Press
review
A
selection of 25 remarkable articles in 10 countries in May
2026: Austria, Canada, Czechia, Germany, France, Italy, Slovenia,
Sweden, UK, USA.
Austria:
Erste Group Bank boosts its employee share ownership trust.
Canada: Historic decision for Canadian Employee Ownership
Trusts. New global employee share plan for Société Générale.
Czechia: After stock options for startups, the time
is coming for employee ownership in SMEs.
Germany: Employee Participation Magazine 2026.
France: Renault is relaunching its global employee
share ownership plan.
Italy: 60% participation in the new employee share
ownership plan at Snam.
Slovenia: Inea number one.
Sweden: Even Bo Rothstein admits it: the butter cutter
will have to be Swedish.
UK: Design ID is Northern Ireland’s 20th
employee-owned business.
USA: New ESOP fables. Employee Ownership Trusts are
coming to America.
The full press review is available
on:
https://www.efesonline.org/PRESS
REVIEW/2026/May.htm
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A
political roadmap for employee ownership in Europe
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