“Baxendale Employee Ownership provided invaluable guidance throughout our transition to becoming a 100% Employee Owned Business. As a 105-year old family-owned company with no fifth generation coming through, it was vital to get the right employee owned model, and we couldn’t have asked for better advisors. From initial discussions around potential structures to devising the best ways to reward our team, they were with us every step of the way, hitting all the timescales perfectly. Their expertise and support made the entire process seamless, and we truly couldn’t have done it without them. Baxendale exceeded our expectations and made a complex transition straightforward.

Paul Hooker - Managing Director, Joe Davies (Manchester) Limited”

Manchester based giftware importer and distributor Joe Davies became a 100% employee-owned business on the 31st of January 2024. The shareholding of the business will be held by the Joe Davies Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) for the benefit of all employees.

“We met a number of specialist advisors (advice from people who had been through the process was “under no circumstances should you try this on your own”) and how right they were.

Transitioning any company needs experienced advice - not just on company law and commercial deals - but experience of the special circumstances of EOT’s, e.g. the need to be thoughtful about the sensitivities of the owners and the wider team. How and when to communicate and how to handle feedback - not everyone will be excited - at least not until they understand what’s happening.

We also came to see that even sophisticated lawyers didn’t understand the intricacies of the various key legal documents - thankfully Baxendale's absolutely did.

We appointed Baxendale’s on advice from many former owners and I can’t say enough what a great job they did - shepherding us through the entire process, helping with the wobbles, shaping communications together, training the Trustee Directors and staying with us all the way including afterwards and into the future.
David Wood - Managing Director, BBL/P”

BBL/P are a leading creative consultancy to the world's most aspiring brands. They became employee owned in 2024.

“As an Employee Trust owned business, I believe that the company and the individuals who work within it will flourish in a truly collaborative structure.

Baxendale, with their wealth of experience guided us through our journey with practical advice at each step in the process of establishing our Employee Owned Trust.

Rob Melling - Chief Executive, Curtins”

Curtins is one of the UK’s leading civil and structural engineering consultancies with over 350 staff supporting clients from 14 offices across the UK and Ireland. Curtins has spent over 60 years advising and supporting clients on how to build resilient and sustainable structures. They have applied those same principles to designing their own ownership structure, with a transition to employee ownership in 2021.

“We chose to partner with Baxendale because employee ownership is all they do, rather than other companies which were technically qualified to help but which did not have a great deal of employee ownership experience to fall back on.

We knew that working with them would be a speedy, watertight process and that they would be with us at every step

Rob Skinner - Founder, Skout PR”

Skout is a B2B PR agency which transitioned to 100% employee ownership via an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) in 2023.

“The transition to EO was an intense undertaking involving many long hours of discussions, forecasting and exploring new legal frameworks. It has not always been an easy path, but the shared vision of a future in which all employees have a say and can benefit from the success of the company has been a constant.  We could not have achieved this without the amazing support of the EO specialists at Baxendale, so a big thanks to them all.  As of July 2023, we have succeeded in these efforts, with 100% ownership transferring to a new Trust, and are proud to now be an Employee-owned business.

Harold Lockwood, Founder - Aguaconsult”

Aguaconsult is a specialist values led consultancy which provides support to public, private and third sector organisations to improve water, sanitation and environmental services for marginalised people in less developed countries. The company moved into employee ownership, with 100% of the shares transferring into an EOT in August 2023.

“Simon in Baxendale was invaluable on our journey to be Ireland's first transition to EOT. His expertise on the matters was reassuring to me as the selling shareholder and his independent view and experience made the idea much more credible to the people of the company. Simon was more than a safe pair of hands, he felt like a member of the gang for the transaction project. I'd happily work with Simon again and wholeheartedly recommend him.

Alan Coleman - Founder, Wolfgang Digital”

Wolfgang Digital has become the first Irish-owned company to transition to employee ownership through an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), following the renowned "John Lewis model."

“I am extremely pleased with the transition to Employee Ownership and very grateful to Emily and the team at Baxendale. They were supportive, structured, skilled, pleasant to work with and fully orchestrated the move, thank you.

Mike Connick - Founder, Connick Tree Care”

On 27th of January 2023, Connick Tree Care, an owner-managed business for thirty eight years, became employee owned; making all of its eligible seventy five employees co-owners of the business.

“After 30 years of being the owner of TBM Group I had reached the stage in my career where I needed to look at the next steps for me, and at the same time a way of facilitating an evolution for us as a group that meant we could continue our cultural growth in the best way. After weighing up the various options, it became more and more obvious that an EOT was the natural step that was best, not only for myself and the management group, but for the entire team. We have established such a strong ethos and culture over the last few years and the EOT ensures that this is now permanently in place for everyone here.

Chris Page - Founder, TBM Group”

TBM put their people and culture first by transitioning to Employee Ownership in November 2023

“Olly and I started Torchbox, but its successes have all been down to the wonderful, creative, thoughtful people who work here. We’re very happy that they are the new owners.

Baxendale’s knowledge and experience has helped us throughout our EO journey. Ewan and his team provided us with clear advice and guidance and were approachable and responsive at every stage of the process. We would highly recommend them.

Tom Dyson - Founder, Torchbox”

On 28th June 2019, Torchbox celebrated Employee Ownership Day by becoming the first digital agency in the UK to transfer 100% of the ownership of its business to its employees.

“Once the principle of an EOT had been understood by myself and the Board, the process of transitioning to an EOT was very smooth. 

The support of several family members, who had inherited their shares but took no active part in running the business, was key to this transition. 

I cannot speak highly enough of Baxendale’s professional approach to this sometimes-complicated process.  Baxendale were superb at establishing where our principles lay, what was practical and what not, and most importantly being 100% behind the company with their open, honest and focused approach to the matters at hand.   They structured the legal documentation around these sometimes quite vague issues with such professionalism that I cannot speak highly enough of them.  The relief I now feel having completed this process is enormous and I can now look forward to a happy and relatively burden free retirement.
John Fisher - MD, Kingfisher”

Kingfisher (Lubrication) Limited is a manufacturing business from West Yorkshire that became employee owned in 2020.