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Business Organizations. Special Corporate Forms a nd Dealing with Special Problems. “Close Corporation”. 17 states, including Delaware and Texas, allow election of “close” status (usually 30-50 shareholders maximum) Main issues: Controlling board decisions
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Business Organizations Special Corporate Forms and Dealing with Special Problems
“Close Corporation” • 17 states, including Delaware and Texas, allow election of “close” status (usually 30-50 shareholders maximum) • Main issues: • Controlling board decisions • Controlling voting by other shareholders • Controlling transfer of shares • Abuse of minority shareholders by majority (Note—this is not the same as close corporation or closely held corporation for federal securities purposes.)
Close Corps. v. Public Corps. • Major conflicts for close corps are different: • majority vs. minority. • shareholder-manager vs. non-manager shareholders. • valuation problems because of lack of public markets for shares. • discipline of public capital markets absent. • many disputes occur in endgame scenarios.
Other control agreements • Shareholder voting agreements • Voting trusts • Super class shares
Deadlock • Avoid through effective planning • Pre-dispute arbitration • Tie breaker shareholders • Tie breaker rules
LLC • Members organize “operating agreement” • Cross between corporate by-laws and partnership agreement • Hybrid: tax treatment of partnership + limited liability of corp. + more flexible management
Nevada: Top Choice for LLC Advantages: No Personal Income Tax No Corporate Profit Tax Special Business Courts Strong Protection for Directors/Officers LLCs May Be in a Series (one own another) Strong Protection for Corporate Veil
Shareholder ABC, Inc. Member XYZ, LLC. Member Member Member
Filing required to create an LLC, details vary by state. • Operating agreement - governs internal operation, establishes process for new members, withdrawal, contribution, voting, dissolution and windup. • Maximum freedom / flexibility: “It is the policy of this chapter to give maximum effect to the principle of freedom of contract and to the enforcement of limited liability company agreements.” DE St. 18-1101(b)
Fiduciary obligations in LLCs • About half of LLC statutes allow altering fiduciary obligations in the LLC Operating Agreement