Based in the London office, Christopher Prout is a partner in the European Corporate Department. He joined Heller Ehrman in 2007.

Experience

Mr. Prout advises public and private European (including U.K.) and U.S.-based corporations and venture capital firms on the appropriate type of share incentives to be used in connection with employees based in the U.K. and other European jurisdictions. Such plans range from simple non-tax qualified arrangements (which nevertheless protect corporations from certain tax liabilities) to more complex tax qualified arrangements. Mr. Prout has acted for U.S. corporations to “anglicise” standard U.S. stock option documentation (thus protecting the U.S. corporation from high tax and social security costs which would otherwise have occurred), and to establish, for example, U.K. tax approved company share option plans and enterprise management incentive option arrangements for U.S. and U.K. based corporations.

Mr. Prout has also established U.K. tax qualified plans, including those that also qualify in the U.S. as incentive stock options or “ISOs.” In addition, Mr. Prout has advised a variety of corporations on long-term incentive plans, stock purchase arrangements, savings related option plans and the U.K.’s share incentive plan, as well as trust arrangements to provide the stock to be delivered to employees.

Mr. Prout also advises on the effect of corporation transactions on share plans, for example, in the context of IPOs, mergers and acquisitions and adjustments to a corporation’s share capital (including returns of capital to shareholders).

On the pensions side, Mr. Prout has advised U.S. and U.K. corporations in connection with their obligations to provide certain pension arrangements in respect of U.K. employees and the pension implications for corporations in the context of mergers and acquisitions. In particular, the latter has included advice on whether, following asset sales, the purchaser needs to replicate the seller’s pension arrangements under certain Europe-wide legislation.

Mr. Prout is recognised by Chambers and Partners as a Leading Lawyer for Employee Share Schemes. He recently spoke on "Do's and Don'ts When Setting Up Global Share Remuneration Plans" at the 2007 ABA Spring Conference in Washington, D.C. Mr. Prout was also ranked “Best of UK, Band 5 for Employee Share Schemes” in Chambers UK 2008.