ESOPs, immigration reform are hot business topics

A growing number of employees in Minnesota also are owners through employee stock ownership plans, including long-term "ESOPs" such as Windings Inc. of New Ulm, PadillaCRT of Minneapolis and Christensen Insurance Group of Minnetonka.

A poll by Public Policy Polling showed that two-thirds of Americans "support the concept of companies being owned by their employees so that all workers share in their success." Only 13 percent oppose the idea; 19 percent are unsure.

The poll also found that 58 percent of Americans would support legislation that makes it easier for employees to own a part of the business, and 50 percent think the government should do more to encourage the growth of employee-owned companies.

Generally, support is highest among Democrats and those identifying as liberal. Younger people are somewhat more supportive than older people.

Loren Rodgers, executive director of the National Center for Employee Ownership, said in a statement: "Employee ownership has gained such wide support because it addresses issues of economic inequality through the market system. Congress has provided tax incentives for employee ownership because it has a proven record of generating more jobs, more assets for employees, and more profits for companies."

The center, a nonprofit research organization, said there are about 7,000 U.S. companies with ESOPs, which range in employment from 10 to hundreds of thousands. The plans cover 14 million participants.

In addition, 10 million-plus employees own stock in broad-based partial ESOPs through employers, mainly through stock option and restricted stock grants. ESOP companies tend to lay off more slowly, and less pigging out at the top.

In this year's presidential race, the Republican platform strongly endorses employee ownership. And Hillary Clinton has proposed additional tax incentives for employers to set up the plans.

Neal St. Anthony

The Minnesota Business Immigration Coalition last week published its third study since 2008 on the growing contribution of immigrants. And it joined national business and cultural groups to demand national immigration reform that would provide an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants a pathway to earning citizenship without fear of deportation.

The related "Reason for Reform" national campaign is sponsored by the business-funded Partnership for a New American Economy.

"This report confirms what our previous three reports underscore; new Americans are significant and substantial contributors to the development and growth of Minnesota's economy," said Bill Blazar, senior vice president at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which leads the business immigration coalition. "Immigration reform would help our new Americans contribute more than they now do and propel our state's economy forward."

The Minnesota study shows immigrants make up a fast-growing 8 percent of state population and contributed $3.1 billion in taxes, or more than 7 percent of the total share in 2014.

Immigrants earned $12.2 billion, or roughly 7.1 percent of all income earned by Minnesotans.

Immigrants comprise 6 percent of entrepreneurs and play a large role in science, technology, engineering and math fields, a major component of economic growth.

The Reason for Reform campaign can be found at RenewOur­Economy.org

Neal St. Anthony

The Minnesota merger market continued at a moderating pace in the seventh full year of economic recovery since the Great Recession, the Star Tribune reported last month.

The number of transactions tracked by Dealogic and other services that watch large-dollar transactions was down, but sale volume was up in the first half of 2016.

Meanwhile, Chicago-based BizBuySell, which tracks small business transactions in 70 U.S. markets, says that Twin Cities-area transactions in the first half of 2016 were up slightly from last year.

In the second quarter, of 404 Twin Cities-area businesses listed by brokers and other sources:

• The median asking price of businesses was around $300,000.

• Businesses listed for sale had median annual revenue of $550,594, up from $453,740 in 2015.

• The median cash flow, funds generated before interest, depreciation and taxes, was 115,732, vs. median cash flow of $92,830 last year.

Earlier, Andy Kocemba, owner of Minneapolis business brokerage Calhoun Companies, said the confidence of business buyers and sellers, coupled with moderate economic and employment growth, has continued the good environment for deal makers.