About the author
Tony Vaughan
Head of Employee Ownership, EOT.co.uk
UK business exit and Employee Ownership Trust adviser with more than 30 years of commercial experience and over 150 completed business sale and exit transactions.
Background and experience
Tony Vaughan heads the Employee Ownership team at EOT.co.uk, offering over three decades of entrepreneurial expertise and having facilitated more than 150 successful business exits. With his wealth of business acumen, Tony crafts effective and tax-efficient exit strategies tailored to each company's needs.
Tony and his team work with business owners who wish to consider employee ownership as a means to secure their business's legacy, reward their staff, and ensure lasting continuity. His approach emphasises confidentiality, professionalism, and bespoke solutions that align with each business's unique requirements.
His advice is based on practical deal experience across succession planning, valuation, business sales and employee ownership, rather than theory. That experience underpins the guidance published across this site, and it is why every substantive article and guide here carries a named author rather than an anonymous editorial byline.
30+
Years of commercial experience
150+
Completed business sale and exit transactions
21
Long-form EOT and succession guides authored
Areas of expertise
- •Employee Ownership Trust feasibility and structuring
- •Business valuation for HMRC clearance purposes
- •Succession planning for owner-managed UK companies
- •Vendor loan, bank and hybrid EOT funding
- •Trustee selection and post-completion governance
- •SME mergers, acquisitions and trade sale exits
EOT.co.uk and VEXUS
EOT.co.uk is a trading style for VEXUS Corporate Limited, 78 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5ES. Guidance published here is general information about UK Employee Ownership Trusts and business succession, and is not a substitute for tax or legal advice on your own transaction.
EOT.co.uk forms part of a wider advisory platform connected to business exits, valuation and succession planning for UK company owners.
Contact Tony directly
For a private discussion about your business and the potential of employee ownership.
Recent guides by Tony
- Business Succession Planning for UK Company Owners
Succession planning is the process of deciding who will own and run your company after you step back, and then making the business capable of surviving that change. Most owners leave it far too late.
- Is My Business Suitable for an EOT?
Suitability for an Employee Ownership Trust depends on far more than profitability. This article sets out the commercial, structural and qualifying tests owners should apply before spending money on a transaction.
- Selling Your Business to Your Employees: How It Actually Works
Selling to your employees does not mean asking staff to find money. In an EOT the trust buys the shares on their behalf, funded largely by the company's future profits, which is what makes the route workable.
- Can I Stay Involved After Selling to an EOT?
Most founders can remain involved after an EOT sale, and many do. The important questions are what role you hold, how it is paid, how it interacts with trustee independence and when it should end.
- EOT vs Private Equity: Comparing Two Very Different Exits
Private equity and an EOT solve different problems. One brings capital, pace and a second exit event; the other brings continuity, independence and a slower, self-funded payout.
- Family Business Succession When Nobody in the Family Wants It
When the next generation does not want the business, succession becomes an ownership problem rather than a family one. There are more routes available than most owners assume.
Speak to a specialist
Discuss your exit in confidence
Check whether an EOT fits your situation, request a written feasibility report, or speak directly with Tony and the team.
Related EOT resources
Continue your research with our core guides on Employee Ownership Trusts.
Read the EOT 101 guide
A plain-English introduction to Employee Ownership Trusts and how they work in the UK.
Compare UK exit options
EOT, trade sale, MBO and private equity weighed up across price, speed, risk and culture.
Get an EOT feasibility report
An independent assessment of whether your business is a strong candidate for employee ownership.
Browse the EOT Insights hub
In-depth articles on valuation, funding, governance and life after an EOT transition.