ESOP

What's an ESOP?
At Foundation Specialties, Inc. we're proud to be an ESOP Company. ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plans) are becoming an increasingly popular benefit for employees and employers alike. An ESOP is a plan that provides a buyer for the stockholders looking to sell their company and a benefit to the employees.

In the year 2000 the company's owner decided that he would like to see the employees of the company become owners in what they had helped build. So effective with the year 2001 we became an ESOP Company.

How does it work?
The ESOP Plan works as follows:
The company sets up a trust for it's employees. The trust then obtains a company guaranteed loan to purchase the stock of the stockholder. As the loan is paid off from company profits, stock is released into current employee accounts as a benefit. The entire cost of the plan is paid for by profits generated from the company. The employees are not allowed to purchase additional stock with their own money. All stock is (or will eventually be) given away to the employees as they obtain it through "sweat equity".

Currently the trust has obtained a loan that is sufficient enough to purchase the entire balance of stock from the former owner of the company. We are currently 100% employee owned.

Who Benefits?
Who Benefits? Obviously the employees benefit by having the company gradually given to them over time. The former owner also benefits in that he receives a fair price for the company as well as tax advantages for his willingness to sell to the company's employees.

Finally, the customer benefits. Since we are now an Employee Owned Company, each employee has a vested interest in making sure that each customer we serve is satisfied with the services we provide. Many companies obtain quality employees who try to conscientiously perform well for customers. Many even have the same mindset as the owner. Unfortunately many companies are unable to find an entire workforce with this attitude. With an ESOP this mindset has now become possible. The employees ARE collectively the owners. So it is always in the employees best interest to look after the success of the company which is obtained through customer satisfaction.

For More Information
If you are interested in ESOPs please visit either of the following websites for further information.
www.nceo.org
www.esopassociation.org