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EFES NEWSLETTER - MARCH 2014
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NOW
AVAILABLE !
EUROPEAN
SURVEY 2013
The
whole information about employee ownership
and employee share plans, top executives
and
common employees in European companies,
corporate governance and profit-sharing,
employee
representation on boards and discrimination
in
employee shareholders' voting rights, and
a
comparison between listed companies and non-
listed employee-owned companies.
150 pages, 100 tables and graphs. More
info
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Discrimination
in voting rights
There is no discrimination for or against employee shareholders'
voting rights in most European countries. However, significant
discrimination can be observed in six countries. Employee
shareholders' voting rights are generally multiplied in France
due to the fact that shares enjoy a double voting right when
held for at least two years. At the contrary, employee shareholders'
voting rights suffer negative discrimination in five other
countries: Denmark, Germany, Finland, Sweden and The Netherlands.
Typical cases there are companies issuing two classes of shares,
A-shares with 10 votes and B-shares with 1 vote. Controlling
owners hold high voting shares but employee share plans are
based on low voting ones. This way, employee shareholders'
voting rights are severely discriminated, in up to 45% of
large companies in Sweden. More
info
Press
review
We have a selection of 35 remarkable articles in 9 countries
in February 2014: Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy,
Spain, UK, USA, Zimbabwe.
Australia: Deloitte recommends changes to tax rules
to make share schemes easier for SMEs.
France: Amundi announces the results of its annual
barometer of employee share ownership. Workers cooperatives
for business transmission. Twelve recommendations of the French
Institute of Directors about employee representation on boards.
Germany: New employee share plan for Siemens. CEO Joe
Kaeser calls for higher tax incentives for employee share
ownership in Germany.
Ireland: A windfall for employee shareholders in Bord
Gaís.
Italy: Agreement between Banca MPS and employee shareholders'
associations. The EFES welcomes the new Italian Government.
Spain: The crisis of Mondragon, in search for new strategy.
New employee share plan for Gas Natural Fenosa. New dedicated
investment fund for employee-owned companies in the Basque
Country. Isofoton could be rescued as a sociedad laboral.
UK: Swedish Handelsbanken frustrated by tax treatment
of its share scheme in the UK. Philip Baxendale was a prominent
figure of employee ownership in the UK. For the EOA, employee
ownership creates emotional buy-in.
USA: ESOPs are a tax-efficient way to reward employees
and provide liquidity for shareholders. The difference between
an ESOP and a human being shareholder is that the ESOP pays
no taxes. The 1974 ESOP law and later amendments were designed
to encourage employee ownership thanks to high tax benefits.
Zimbabwe: Employee Share Ownership Trusts are part
of the indigenization policy.
The full press review is available
on:
http://www.efesonline.org/PRESS
REVIEW/2014/February.htm
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A
political roadmap for employee ownership in Europe
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