Shareholder

What is a Buy/Sell Deed?

WHY HAVE A BUY/SELL DEED?

A Buy/Sell Deed is an agreement between the owners of a company or unit trust that upon the death or permanent disablement of a director or key person associated with a shareholder/unitholder, that shareholder/unitholder must transfer its shares to the remaining shareholders in exchange for payment.

The method of determining the price is agreed and the funding of that payment usually comes from the proceeds of insurance policies to be taken out for those risks by the shareholders/unitholders.

A Buy/Sell Agreement is not a general Shareholders Agreement or Unitholders Agreement, so it does not regulate all dealings in relation to the company (however the Buy/Sell obligations can be in such agreements rather than in a separate document).

COMMON SCENARIOS A BUY/SELL DEED COULD HELP PREVENT

Consider the following and how it may affect you and your company…

  • A shareholder dies and you as the remaining shareholder inherit an unintended (and potentially non-income producing) business partner such as the deceased shareholder’s spouse (as they receive the deceased’s assets via their Will or intestacy), with company profits being paid out according to the respective shareholdings.
  • You have to buy shares from a deceased shareholder’s estate above their value.
  • Your family do not get the best price for your shares in the company.
  • The remaining shareholders don’t have available funds to pay out a deceased shareholder or a shareholder who can no longer contribute to the business due to total and permanent disability.
  • The business either needs to be sold or funds need to be borrowed by the remaining shareholders or the company to make the payments.
  • A key person to the company has died, leaving the company in the position of losing a key source of revenue, client relationships and knowhow, affecting the value of the company and its business and its viability in the future.

CERTAINTY

A Buy/Sell Agreement is designed to bring certainty in relation to the exit from a business as the result of death or permanent disability of a key person – certainty for an ill shareholder, a deceased shareholder’s family, the remaining owners and the company itself. Don’t leave it to chance.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Craig Pryor is principal solicitor at McKillop Legal. For further information in relation to Buy/Sell Deeds, Shareholders Agreements, any or any commercial dispute or issue, contact Craig Pryor on (02) 9521 2455 or email help@mckilloplegal.com.au.

This information is general only and is not a substitute for proper legal advice. Please contact McKillop Legal to discuss your legal concerns or objectives.

Stay up to date – LinkedIn| Facebook | Twitter | McKillop Legal Blog

in Business / Commercial Law / Dispute Resolution / Risk management  by 01 Feb 2026 0 comments

Why you should have a Shareholders Agreement

CONSIDER THESE COMMON ISSUES

What would happen to your company if you or your business partner became so ill that one of you could no longer work – or worse still, died?

Would you still be paying dividends or making distributions of profit to that person even through he or she is not around, or to their spouse or family?

If they died and left their spouse everything in their Will (including their shares in your company), would you want to be in business with his or her spouse?

What if your business partner sold his or her shares in your company to a complete stranger or a competitor following an argument?

How are your shares to be valued and over what period will the purchase payments be made to your family? Or is there an insurance policy to fund the payment in a lump sum?

HOW CAN A SHAREHOLDERS AGREEMENT HELP?

A Shareholders Agreement can cover these not uncommon scenarios and tailor the rights and obligations of the shareholders of a company to fit your personal circumstances and your particular business to help avoid some of these potential problems for everyone’s ultimate benefit.

You may have a Will, but you may not have certainty in relation to what will happen to your family or your business in the event of your death or serious illness unless these matters are clearly dealt with in a Shareholders Agreement.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information in relation to business succession, estate planning, litigation and dispute resolution or any commercial law matter, contact McKillop Legal on (02) 9521 2455 or email help@mckilloplegal.com.au

This information is general only and is not a substitute for proper legal advice. Please contact McKillop Legal to discuss your commercial law needs.

Stay up to date – LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

in Business / Commercial Law / Dispute Resolution / General / Risk management  by 10 Feb 2025 0 comments

Company power of attorney

What would happen to your company if its sole director became incapacitated or died? How would bills and staff get paid? Who would make decisions on behalf of the business?

Companies may only act through its directors so in the case of a sole director company, the company will be unable to operate if something happened to its director.

A personal power of attorney granted by a director is not valid where it seeks to allow someone to act in the role of a director of a company as the position of a director is a personal duty that cannot be delegated. Only the shareholders of a sole director company can appoint a replacement, even if it is only temporary.

A personal held by a shareholder may be able to call a meeting of shareholders so as to seek to appoint a replacement director, but this all takes time.

Each company that has a single director should appoint its own attorney as part of its overall risk management strategy.

The Corporations Act grants to a company all the powers and authority of a ‘natural person’ and as such, a company can appoint an attorney under a company power of attorney to act on its behalf when the company itself is not able to act (such as through the incapacity or ill heath of its sole director) and this attorney can continue to act even if the sole director died.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Craig Pryor is principal solicitor at McKillop Legal. For further information in relation to corporations, commercial law or business related matters, contact Craig Pryor on (02) 9521 2455 or email craig@mckilloplegal.com.au.

This information is general only and is not a substitute for proper legal advice. Please contact McKillop Legal to discuss your legal concerns or objectives.

Stay up to date – LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

in Business / Commercial Law / General / Risk management  by 01 Feb 2019 0 comments

Bringing on business partners?

For businesses that are growing and putting on other shareholders and directors, a Shareholders Agreement is a must have. If your business is not a company but it a partnership or a unit trust structure, the document would be a Partnership Deed or Unitholders Agreement.

Don’t leave some of the most important and fundamental issues for your business to chance. Consider a company with 2 or 3 shareholders – a typical small to medium sized business scenario…

COMMON PROBLEMS FOR SHAREHOLDERS

Issues that commonly that can affect shareholders include:

  • A shareholder sells their shares, leaving you with an unintended business partner;
  • A shareholder dies and you inherit an unintended business partner or you have to buy the shares from their estate for more than you ought to;
  • As a shareholder, you want out but cannot find a suitable purchaser but the other shareholders won’t buy you out;
  • The shareholders don’t have available funds to pay out an exiting shareholder;
  • The majority shareholder wishes to run the business one way, but is restricted by a minority shareholder;
  • You, as a minority shareholder, are being treated poorly by other shareholders who are running the business with little regard to your interests;
  • You wish to sell the company’s business as there is an excellent offer on the table, but another shareholder will not and is jeopardizing the sale;
  • You wish to receive dividends from the business, but others want to reinvest the profits.

The aim of a Shareholder Agreement is to bring some certainty to the business relationship so there is confidence in how the business will operate

TAILORED SOLUTIONS

A Shareholder Agreement tailors the rights and obligations of the shareholders to fit the particular purposes of the company, the nature of its business and the aims and wishes of its shareholders – to help avoid some of the potential problems identified above.

Some factors that should be considered in a Shareholders Agreement include:

  • The company’s activities/type of business – its purpose;
  • The roles and obligations of the shareholders;
  • Who are the directors and how the shareholders can change them;
  • Director remuneration;
  • Who will manage and control the business day to day, such as a managing director;
  • Meetings – how they are called, how they are run, counting of votes;
  • How decisions are made by shareholders or the board of directors;
  • What types of decisions require a simple majority, special resolution or a unanimous vote;
  • Payment of dividends;
  • Funding/borrowing;
  • Restrictions on the issue/transfer of shares and calculating the share price;
  • How shareholders can exit from the company and on what terms;
  • Funding of exits (including death) – buy/sell obligations and personal insurances;
  • Restraints on existing shareholders as to company customers etc;
  • Insurances to be taken out; and
  • How any disputes are to be resolved.

The aim of a Shareholders Agreement is to bring some certainty to the business relationship so that shareholders can have some confidence as to how the company will be run and, if there is a falling out, to provide a mechanism for that falling out to be dealt with, as painlessly as possible.

Ideally, the Shareholders Agreement would be in place from the outset whilst all parties are in agreement in relation to all issues however, they can be documented at any time (provided all parties agree).

FURTHER INFORMATION

Craig Pryor is principal solicitor at McKillop Legal. For further information in relation to starting or buying a business, drafting business documents or any other commercial law matter, contact Craig Pryor on (02) 9521 2455 or email craig@mckilloplegal.com.au.

This information is general only and is not a substitute for proper legal advice. Please contact McKillop Legal to discuss your business needs.

Stay up to date – LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

in Business / Commercial Law / Dispute Resolution / General / Risk management / Trusts  by 12 Feb 2018 0 comments

Do you have a Shareholders Agreement?

CONSIDER THESE COMMON ISSUES

What would happen to your company if you or your business partner became so ill that one of you could no longer work – or worse still, died?

Would you still be paying dividends or making distributions of profit to that person even through he or she is not around, or to their spouse or family?

If they died and left their spouse everything in their Will (including their shares in your company), would you want to be in business with his or her spouse?

What if your business partner sold his or her shares in your company to a complete stranger or a competitor following an argument?

How are your shares to be valued and over what period will the purchase payments be made to your family? Or is there an insurance policy to fund the payment in a lump sum?

HOW CAN A SHAREHOLDERS AGREEMENT HELP?

A Shareholders Agreement can cover these not uncommon scenarios and tailor the rights and obligations of the shareholders of a company to fit your personal circumstances and your particular business to help avoid some of these potential problems for everyone’s ultimate benefit.

You may have a Will, but you may not have certainty in relation to what will happen to your family or your business in the event of your death or serious illness unless these matters are clearly dealt with in a Shareholders Agreement.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Craig Pryor is principal solicitor at McKillop Legal. For further information in relation to business succession, estate planning, litigation and dispute resolution or any commercial law matter, contact Craig Pryor on (02) 9521 2455 or email craig@mckilloplegal.com.au

This information is general only and is not a substitute for proper legal advice. Please contact McKillop Legal to discuss your commercial law needs.

in Business / Dispute Resolution  by 06 Sep 2016 0 comments