Member Event: Succession or Sale?

The challenge of creating a lasting business that remains entrepreneurial and prosperous over generations is one of huge discussion among business owners.

With a wide range of choices, our panel of entrepreneurs will be sharing their experiences of:

• Developing family members & passing on the business.
• Preparing the business for sale / MBO.
• Transferring a business into an employee ownership model.

Our experienced panel of entrepreneurs includes:

Our host: Graham Robb, Recognition PR
Graham is one of the North’s most ‘plugged-in’ business figures. He is chairman of the Institute of Directors in the North East and serves on our board, not to mention being extremely well connected in the world of politics. Graham founded Recognition in 1990 and continues to grow the business employing 14 members of staff and servicing over 75 clients specialising in Consumer and Healthcare, The Energy Sector and Business, Enterprise and Education.

Meenu Malhotra, The Malhotra Group
Meenu came to the North East from India aged 18 to make his mark in life and make his father proud. He has gone on to create a group of companies with turnover of £40m in the care, leisure and property sectors, and employing 1,000 people in the region. With son Atul and younger brother Bunty a key part of the day-to-day operations, Meenu has also recently strengthened his management team with outside expertise in order to continue driving the business forward and ensure the group's long-term success.

Alastair Waite, Onyx Group, Altrelli Limited and Altec Engineering
A qualified accountant who has held many senior board positions in a variety of industries but is perhaps best known for his involvement in building Onyx Group where he remains as the second largest shareholder. He left 18 months ago and embarked on two new ventures; he founded Altrelli Limited, a consulting company mentoring businesses and individuals to achieve their potential and is also Group CEO of Altec Engineering Limited which is the fastest growing precision engineering company in the North East.

David Routledge, Gripple / GLIDE
When Hugh Facey took the decision to step back from worldwide, multi-award-winning company Gripple, in 2011, he decided to transform it into one that was owned by the employees. GLIDE was set up as a private company to preserve and develop employee culture, look after the interests of its members and generate engagement from everyone in the business; who are now owners of it. David helped to lead this transition and, in addition to his role as NED at Gripple and GLIDE, he has extensive experience with other employee owned businesses, steering a Pharma sector business to a ProShare award and leading a full FTSE listing for a business in the energy sector. He has also served on the Employee Ownership Association board.

Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities of succession planning.