An employee ownership buyout offers full cash proceeds for the acquisition of the target company. In this style of transaction, a private equity firm such as Apis & Heritage Capital Partners raises all of the capital to acquire the business and lends it through the company to a newly formed ESOP Trust, which then purchases the company from the selling shareholders. In effect, it is similar to buying a house with a 100% mortgage. Over the next three to five years, the company creates equity value by paying down the acquisition debt, including the private equity firm's investment. Once this debt, which is similar in structure to any company that has recently been acquired through a leveraged buyout, is fully paid-off, the company is free of external stakeholders and can remain an ESOP-owned company in perpetuity.