Legend Seeds, Inc.<\/a> (Legend) headquartered in De Smet, SD, was founded in 1990 by Glen and Janet Davis as an independent seed company. Over the past 29 years, the company has grown into one of the largest independent seed companies in the country, servicing dealers and growers in seven upper Midwestern states and Canada. With a customer-driven focus and access to the latest genetics and technology in the seed industry, Legend provides its farmers with the resources to maximize productivity on their acres down to the square inch.<\/p>\nSituation
\n<\/strong><\/p>\nAs a family-owned business, Legend\u2019s management team and ownership were seeking an ownership transition solution to accomplish the following:<\/p>\n
\n- Provide a liquidity event for current ownership<\/li>\n
- Assure Legend\u2019s future beyond the current ownership for the stability of its employees, dealers and customers<\/li>\n
- Allow Legend to continue to operate with its core values and focus in place<\/li>\n
- Ensure Legend remain a customer service driven company, dedicated toward providing high-yielding, consistent producing, top quality products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Solution
\n<\/strong><\/p>\nOur firm was engaged by Legend to develop a transaction utilizing a newly established employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) to accomplish the goals set out by Legend\u2019s management team and ownership. After evaluating several ESOP transaction structures and alternatives, Legend ultimately determined that a minority sale to the ESOP would be the optimal fit and engaged us to implement the ESOP.<\/p>\n
As part of the engagement, our professionals:<\/p>\n
\n- Designed a transaction structure accommodating ownership\u2019s goals of a liquidity event in a tax efficient manner while maintaining historical practices with regard to its shareholders<\/li>\n
- Negotiated with the ESOP Trustee on the sale of a minority ownership stake in the company to the ESOP<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Upon successful completion of the minority sale to the ESOP and creation of approximately 100 new employee-owners of Legend, Glen Davis, CEO and Founder of Legend said, \u201cWith so much change in the seed industry, we\u2019ve spent a lot of time planning for the future of Legend Seeds to provide certainty and stability not only for our employees, but for our dealers. This transition to an ESOP will help assure Legend\u2019s future for both staff and dealers, allow Legend to continue to operate with its\u00a0core values<\/a>\u00a0and remain a strong, healthy, independent seed company with an incredibly bright future. SES professionals were instrumental in ensuring a successful transaction and we couldn\u2019t be happier with the result.\u201d<\/p>\nFor more information on this transaction, contact 888.SES.ESOP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3689","transaction","type-transaction","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Regional Seed Company Rewards Employee Dedication, Implements Minority ESOP\u00a0 - SES ESOP Strategies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Waldron engaged SES ESOP Strategies, along with its affiliated law firm,\u00a0Stevens & Lee, to structure the new ESOP plan and guide the Company through the transaction process.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stevenslee.com\/sesesop\/outcome\/legend-seeds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Regional Seed Company Rewards Employee Dedication, Implements Minority ESOP\u00a0 - SES ESOP Strategies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Waldron engaged SES ESOP Strategies, along with its affiliated law firm,\u00a0Stevens & Lee, to structure the new ESOP plan and guide the Company through the transaction process.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stevenslee.com\/sesesop\/outcome\/legend-seeds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SES ESOP Strategies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-31T15:47:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/outcome\\\/legend-seeds\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/outcome\\\/legend-seeds\\\/\",\"name\":\"Regional Seed Company Rewards Employee Dedication, Implements Minority ESOP\u00a0 - SES ESOP Strategies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-24T16:05:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-31T15:47:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"Waldron engaged SES ESOP Strategies, along with its affiliated law firm,\u00a0Stevens & Lee, to structure the new ESOP plan and guide the Company through the transaction process.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/outcome\\\/legend-seeds\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/outcome\\\/legend-seeds\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/outcome\\\/legend-seeds\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Transactions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/transaction\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Regional Seed Company Rewards Employee Dedication, Implements Minority ESOP\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stevenslee.com\\\/sesesop\\\/\",\"name\":\"Griffin Financial Group\",\"description\":\"TAILORED ESOP SOLUTIONS. 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