NO.PZ2021090804000011
问题如下：
Tom is a very successful entrepreneur. After six years of entrepreneurship, the technology company he founded is now worth $500 million . It is a private company. He is the controlling shareholder and owns 60% of the shares.
Since most of Tom's personal net assets are concentrated in his software company, he is rich in assets but scarce in cash. Tom met with Johnson, his private wealth adviser, for help. He indicated to Johnson that he wanted to avoid immediate taxable event for him or his company, and to maintain his ownership and control of his company. In this regard, Johnson proposed three possible strategies that Tom can use to generate liquidity from technology companies:
Strategy 1: Personal loan secured by Tom’s company’s shares without a put arrangement
Strategy 2: Leveraged recapitalization
Strategy 3: Leveraged ESOP (employee stock ownership plan)
Determine the most appropriate strategy that can generate liquidity and fulfill Tom’s wishes. Justify your response.
解释：
A personal loan secured by Tom’s company’s shares (Strategy 1) can generate liquidity and still fulfill Tom’s wishes.
The loan would allow Tom to maintain his ownership and control of the company, and since Strategy 1 does not contain the put arrangement， it has the advantage that it should not cause an immediate taxable event for the company or Tom.
Although at some point the debt will need to be repaid, Tom will have access to cash to diversify his concentration risk and will avoid triggering a taxable event. In most jurisdictions, the interest expense paid on the loan proceeds should be deductible for tax purposes. （这句话是补充说明，答案不需要有）
需注意，假如A personal loan secured by company’s shares包含一个“ put arrangement”安排，即如果不能还款，将把抵押物给贷款公司，这种安排可能会被视为应税事件（策略 1 不包含 put arrangement安排）。
Leveraged recapitalization（策略 2）不会让 Tom 保持其对公司的所有权和控制权或避免应税事件。通常，在Leveraged recapitalization下，私募股权公司将投资股权并获得业务的部分所有权。然后，私募股权公司将向高级和夹层（次级）贷方提供或安排债务。汤姆将获得一部分股票的现金，并将保留在新资本化实体中的少数股权。而且汤姆可能会被对收到的现金征税。但如果结构合理，转入新资本公司的股票将实现税收递延。 Tom 收到的税后现金收益可用于其他资产类别，以帮助建立多元化的投资组合，降低 Tom 的财富集中风险。
Leveraged ESOP (employee stock ownership plan)（ESOP，策略 3）不会满足 Tom 保持其对公司的所有权和控制权的愿望，虽然可能会让他避免应税事件。要为他的公司实施 ESOP，汤姆必须将他的部分或全部股份出售给公司创建的养老金计划。杠杆化的 ESOP 将借入资金（通常从银行）来购买 Tom 的股票。根据公司结构的法律形式，可能可以推迟对出售给 ESOP 的股票征收任何资本利得税。使用 ESOP，Tom 可以部分分散其持股并分散其整体投资组合，同时retain（而不是maintain ）对公司的控制权并保持保留股份的上涨潜力。
maintain是直接保留，retain是间接保留。就比如ESOP，以前是直接对公司控制（maintain），现在是通过ESOP来间接控制公司（retain）
股东把公司股权质押给我without put arrangement，万一这股东将来还不上钱，我又不能拿走股权，那我为啥还签这个合同呢？相当于没有抵押物的借款给股东，对我有啥好处？
