ESOP (or Employee Share Ownership Plan) is a generic term that is used to refer to most types of employee share ownership plans, but in particular is used to refer to employee trusts, operated in conjunction with one or more employee share or share option plans. There are a variety of employee trusts with different features, the main ones being:

Click here for our PDF on EBT

Click here for our PDF on QUEST

Click here for our PDF on the Share Incentive Plan (SIP)

The use of an ESOP is not limited to an employee share plan for the purposes of motivation and reward. It can also be used as a corporate finance tool, an exit route or as a method of setting up an internal market - particularly within a private company where shares cannot be bought or sold on the open market.

Please click on the links on the left to find out different ways of using ESOPs.