Forty Percent Of NewAge(R) Industries Is Now Owned By Its Employees
NewAge's CEO and majority shareholder, Ken Baker, has sold an additional ten percent of company stock to its employees through the company's Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The plan helps employees save for retirement.
Online, January 23, 2013 (Newswire.com) - The recent holidays were a time for togetherness and gift giving, and together the team members of NewAge Industries received an unexpected gift. The company's CEO and majority shareholder, Ken Baker, recently announced that in early 2013 he will sell an additional ten percent of NewAge's shares to the company's ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan), raising the total of the ESOP's ownership to forty percent.
"This action ensures that additional shares are available to team members who are entering the plan," stated Baker in a December 13 company-wide meeting. "The shares will be purchased by the ESOP through an internal company loan, just like we did when we launched the ESOP in 2006."
Having strengthened NewAge in several ways, the ESOP continues to:
- Give employees the pride of ownership
- Provide retirements savings with no out-of-pocket expense to employees
- Establish a succession plan for the company
- Discourage a competitive buyout
- Improve employee morale and camaraderie
- And most importantly, benefit customers because employees know that their actions are a direct investment in their future
The meeting continued with Baker noting that 2013 holds many promising opportunities. NewAge's AdvantaPure product line continues to grow, particularly in the biopharmaceutical market where customers are adopting single use technology. The company is also putting increased focus on its industrial business with the recent hiring of a new divisional manager, Stephen Kuhns, who is actively connecting with customers, seeking opportunities for expansion, and looking into new markets.
Ten-year employee and recent retiree Dennis Rooney stated that NewAge Industries has "a terrific CEO who looks out for you. Any place of employment has its minor issues, but things are very good at NewAge. It's a good group of people, and I see nothing but 'up' for everyone here in the future."
Rooney previously worked for a company for 25 years, and when it was bought out, the new owner fired everyone and fled the country with the employees' retirement funds. NewAge's ESOP gave Rooney back his retirement.
For more information on NewAge's ESOP, contact the Fluid Transfer Specialists(R) at NewAge Industries, Inc., 145 James Way, Southampton, PA 18966; phone 800-506-3924 or 215-526-2300; fax 800-837-1856 or 215-526-2190; e-mail: [email protected]; ESOP web page: http://www.newageindustries.com/esop.asp.
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NewAge(R), NewAge Industries AdvantaPure(R), Verigenics(R), and "Fluid Transfer Specialists(R)" are trademarks of NewAge(R) Industries, Inc.
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Tags: employee owners, employee ownership, Employee Stock Ownership Plan, employee stock ownership program, ESOP, newage esop
