MM&K, jointly with its fellow US GECN member firm, Farient, has recently conducted a survey of approaches to pay policies in Corporate owned Venture Capital (“CVC”) businesses. We see CVC firms breaking down into three categories, as follows: (1) integrated unit; (2) strategic accelerant; (3) standalone VC. Integrated units are typically staffed almost entirely by…

September 1, 2020 Read more >

We are seeing many PE and infrastructure fund management firms recruiting right now, suggesting that there are likely to be some interesting movements in compensation levels in this sector during 2020, particularly at the investment director, associate and analyst levels. Access to reliable data will rarely be so important for HR and reward teams as…

July 30, 2020 Read more >

Risk to Carried Interest The Chancellor has recently requested the UK Office of Tax Simplification to review the capital gains tax system and the interaction of how gains are taxed compared to other types of income. This has caused speculation in the market that carried interest payments received by fund managers and private equity executives…

July 30, 2020 Read more >

Even in the modern age of political “opinion mining” and “soft leaking”, there has not yet been any overt steer from the Government as to what specifically it would like to do with the CGT regime (other than, presumably, for it to raise more revenue). However, in the document setting out the situation, it has…

July 30, 2020 Read more >

A new clause was added to the Finance Bill 2020 (which should shortly be section 107 of Finance Act 2020) in June, which provides a time-limited exception for EMI option holders who are unable to meet the necessary ‘working time’ requirements as a result of COVID-19. (See here for a discussion in our June Newsletter).…

July 30, 2020 Read more >

In 2019 MM&K, together with our partners in the GECN (Global Governance and Executive Compensation Group) researched global trends in Corporate Governance – investors’ perspective. The outcomes of this research are presented in the Executive Summary of the 2019 Report (click here to request a copy). The GECN is a group of five independent advisory…

July 30, 2020 Read more >

In our May Newsletter, we wrote: “The current state of the oil and gas industry points to a strategy of cost cutting, consolidation and collaboration. Conserving cash resources is the priority – for all firms but particularly for the small and mid-size players, whose balance sheets are not so strong as those of the large…

July 30, 2020 Read more >

On 8 June 2020, HMRC published the Employment Related Securities Bulletin 35 which addresses certain issues concerning the impact of COVID -19 on employee share schemes. A brief summary of the bulletin is set out below. Click here for the full bulletin. Enterprise Management Incentives (EMIs) With regard to EMI, the bulletin states that HMRC…

June 29, 2020 Read more >

MM&K has recently conducted its annual Pulse Survey of the latest trends in the world of PE and VC Fund Managers’ pay and staffing levels. Perhaps not surprisingly, many firms were somewhat distracted by the Lockdown and the effect this was having on their staff and their working patterns. Notwithstanding this, we were able to…

June 29, 2020 Read more >

The recent summer solstice reminds us that the year is half way through and for those involved in managing people, this is likely to be the time for a half year or even full year review. However, even if it isn’t, now is still the time to have these conversations. Given all of the recent…

June 29, 2020 Read more >

All of us have had to make major adjustments to our lives over the past three months. Boards of directors and their remuneration committees are no exception. Many companies have been required to make transformational changes to their operations and their remuneration policies, and may yet have to make more. Here are five key agenda…

June 29, 2020 Read more >

But is now a good time to adopt a new employee share plan? A recent report, published by The Social Market Foundation (“the SMF”), in February 2020 was entitled “Strengthening employee share ownership in the UK”.  This report was both supported and funded by the Investment Association. The SMF is an independent British political public…

May 28, 2020 Read more >