The Better Exit Strategy: ESOPs Satisfy Business Owners And Preserve Their Legacy

On Chicago’s North Side, decades after other manufacturing companies went bust, migrated to the South or outsourced everything to China, S&C Electric – a $700 million-a-year maker of equipment for utilities – stood independent, profitable and debt free. Then, its controlling stockholder, John C. Conrad, died at age 89, and like so many family companies before it, S&C’s future was in doubt. Conrad’s daughters had waited patiently for many years and wanted to cash out.