Dive Brief:
- Wisconsin-based contractor The Boldt Co. has announced a five-year plan to transfer the majority of company ownership to employees as part of the family-owned business' succession planning, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
- Ownership of the 125-year-old company, which specializes in hospital and power plant construction, will be divided between the Boldt family (30%), management (25%), and employees (45%) as part of a phased-in process to prevent employees from taking on debt to buy a stake in the company, the Journal reported.
- Boldt, which has seen sales growth of at least 10% each year, expects sales to reach $1 billion in 2016 — which would make it one of Wisconsin's largest employee-owned companies.
Dive Insight:
Boldt was most recently was in the public eye after it was hired to take over the Valley Medical Center project in Santa Clara County, CA, after Turner Construction was fired.
Multiple buyers have courted Boldt over the years, but the Boldts, the Journal reported, have always resisted selling the company. When the board of directors began succession planning, they came up with the idea to transition to an employee-owned company.
Oscar Boldt, grandson of the founder, Martin Boldt, and chairman of the board said in a statement, "We felt that if we sold Boldt to another company, like many companies do, our values and culture would be lost forever. Creating employee ownership means we will preserve what we have built over 125 years. The Boldt Company will live on and continue to do exceptional work."
Structuring of the employee ownership plan is not yet complete, the Journal reported, and, for now, Boldt’s management will remain unchanged.
