The business owner and property investor
Business services and tax advisory
The Opportunity
A business owner and property investor, who also provides financial backing to other ventures, held his property interests in a combination of personal, trust and corporate ownerships.
The client needed advice as to how to restructure his various interests more effectively with a view to more straightforward succession planning, combined with efficient IHT planning, while ensuring liquidity for the family and the ability to fund new business ventures.
The Solution
We proposed bringing all of the client’s interests together into one corporate group under one family holding company with separate subsidiary companies holding individual properties together with a property management company, a family finance company and a family investment company. The succession issue thus became focused solely on the distribution of holding company shares and the overall nature of the group’s business brought IHT reliefs to bear on the value of the group enshrined in the value of the holding company.
The Outcome
The client now has a rational framework for his assets, sufficient liquidity for immediate and future needs, and a clear understanding of IHT obligations to give peace of mind.
He can now concentrate on running his various businesses, while devolving much of the daily management to the next generation, safe in the knowledge that the structure we have put in place should secure the future of the businesses for the benefit of his family.
