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Alan Kandel

Alan devotes his practice to helping clients design, maintain and defend employee benefit and executive compensation plans that align with business goals. Alan counsels a wide variety of clients – publicly traded, privately held, tax-exempt and governmental – as they navigate the highly regulated space of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation. He works closely with clients to design and draft durable and strategic benefit plans that meet compliance benchmarks while aligning with business goals. Alan also advises buyers and sellers on employee benefit and executive compensation issues in corporate transactions.

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Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) have been used as a business succession strategy by employers across many industries. In the cannabis industry, ESOPs have come and gone and come again as a trendy topic promising to fix many of the tax and liquidity issues operators in the industry face. But are the benefits real, or is this just another pitch by consultants looking to generate fees? The answer is “yes”.

An ESOP is similar to a 401(k) plan except that an ESOP invests primarily in employer stock instead of mutual funds. Because of this unique feature, an entrepreneur can sell his or her business to an ESOP, thereby turning the employees into owners.