OUR SERVICES
Mergers and Acquisitions
Investment Rounds
SEIS and EIS Tax Reliefs
Shareholder Agreements and Articles of Association
Shareholder Disputes and Buyouts
Joint Ventures
Founder and Vesting Contracts
Share Option Schemes
Employee and Consultancy Agreements
Technology and Intellectual Property Contracts
Strategic Company Law Advice
Financial Services
Commercial Property
Last updated on July 28th, 2020 at 09:44 am
Welcome to
‘The Jonathan Lea Network’
We are a firm of solicitors based in Haywards Heath, Mid-Sussex. We work with clients throughout the UK and around the world, adopting a tailored, pragmatic and clear approach to each matter we take on.
Put simply, through our work we aim to increase your profit, protection and free time. We only accept instructions on matters where we know we can add value and will always ensure that clients have the benefit of fee certainty, including a commitment to fixed fees where possible.
How to manage both EMI and unapproved share options on a company sale/exit
Published 26 days ago
When your company goes under the due diligence spotlight, an aspect that will be under intense scrutiny will be any form of share options/awards scheme. It is imperative that your company has met the HMRC standards in relation to these schemes, so as not to delay or adversely impact the sale of the company. This is because if a problem has been found then the time taken to correct the error with HMRC will likely be greater than the time span of the sale and with the added detriment that there is unlikely to be a tax-efficient solution and you can find that your buyer wants to escrow sale proceeds or obtain specific indemnities to protect against any uncertain tax costs for the company.
COVID-19 Furlough Scheme Update
Published 30 days ago
The Government announced new rules starting from 1st July on what, why and how you can claim furlough pay under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for your staff. Below we have provided some useful information to consider when these new rules come in place and how they will affect the use of the scheme.
M&A funding through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
Published 37 days ago
Late 2019/Early 2020, liquidity in the M&A market was strong, uncertainty created by the general election was on the decline; whilst the value of both UK domestic and outward mergers was up by £1.1b in comparison to Q1 of 2019. However, as COVID-19 spread and fear began to grip the market, numerous M&A deals were shelved or placed on hold, until the market showed signs of recuperation. Those delayed deals will soon face the added detriment of a greater focus on due diligence and how the target continued to operate throughout the crisis.
Common SEIS and EIS Mistakes
Published 54 days ago
The rules surrounding SEIS/EIS are complex and we advise that before making an advance assurance application you seek professional advice.
Put and call options over shares in private companies: main features and tax considerations
Published 55 days ago
This blog post explains the main features of put and call options over shares in private companies, details the circumstances in which such options are usually used (and for what reasons) and includes a high-level summary of the tax considerations.