CASE 1 (A Case in Japan)

■ Profile

Founder of a listed company (Mr. A)

Family: the individual is the founder — first generation.

Company market capitalization: roughly ¥10–20 billion (approximately USD 70–140 million).

Founder group's ownership stake: 40%.

■ A challenge specific to founders

The core of the consultation was the "liquidity of one's own shares." Holding shares in one's own company is entirely different from holding cash that can be freely used. Selling triggers a drop in ownership ratio, reduced control, and signals to the market.

At the same time, using the shares as loan collateral brings its own issues: pledging the collateral, disclosure through a large-shareholding report, and margin-call risk from share-price movements.

■ The reality seen in trading volume (considered on the basis of market sale)

Average daily trading volume (turnover) is around ¥100 million (about USD 0.7 million) per day.

If the amount actually sellable in the market is taken as up to roughly 10% of volume, the amount that can be liquidated is about ¥10 million (about USD 70,000) per day.

Even converting ¥100 million (about USD 0.7 million) into cash entails work on a business-day basis and from the resulting disclosure obligations, and — of course — meaningful cost, including the impact on the market.

■ The key questions

The first is "how to handle one's own shares." And then: whether to sell, whether to use collateralized lending, how to secure liquidity, how to make use of an asset management company, how to think about succession, and further — how to allocate the overall assets, and what ownership structure to build for the future. These need to be designed as one integrated whole.

■ The solution

At PLUTO, we go beyond short-term liquidation for cash, and design the model best suited to each individual from a long-term perspective.