Legal services

In Switzerland and internationally, ATEP is activey in all areas of business law.

Our lawyers work in multidisciplinary teams and as partners, in order to provide service of the highest quality and contribute tangible added value.

ATEP Legal & Tax SA has a high level of expertise in the incorporation of new companies and Swiss branches, in the implementation of foreign groups in Switzerland as well as in the transfer of the domicile of foreign companies into Switzerland.

Thus, ATEP Legal & Tax SA advises you on the choice of the company legal form the most appropriate to ensure the optimal development of you projects and its specialists will draft all the legal documents likely to be needed during the various stages of the life of your company.

We assist you therefore notably in the following areas:

• draft of shareholders agreements and organizational regulations;
• support in capital increase and decrease ;
• support in the whole process of acquisition of a company and handling of all legal and tax issues related to such transaction, including legal, accountng and tax due diligences;
• support in the transformation of a sole proprietorship entity or of a company into an entity of a different legal form
• support in the dissolution and liquidation of a company

ATEP Legal & Tax SA has an extensive experience in restructuring and other transactions involving small and medium-sized businesses.
We advise you therefore on all the legal and tax aspects of these different operations and draw up all the necessary documents for carrying them out (contracts, reports, minutes, requisition to the commercial register etc.).
We also assist our clients in the vital steps to be taken in communication, notably with workers’ representatives, creditors and other commercial relations (suppliers, customers, bank etc.) and we co-ordinate relations with the notary and the company bodies (general meetings, board of directors, auditing committees).

Our services include the following:

• support and advice upon merger, split, sale of companies as well as upon the MBO (Management Buyout) and MBI (Management Buy in) of companies;
• draft of all the legal documents related to the sale or the acquisition of a company, from the preparatory phase to the closing (restructuring process, confidentiality agreement, letter of intent, contract / closing memorandum);
• conduct of the legal, accounting and tax due diligences ;
• research of potential buyers or investors.

The planning of the transfer of a business is a complex operation, involving strategic, financial, and legal and tax considerations that any business owner has to face one day.

The change of generation at the head of an SME can jeopardize not only the family ties of the business owner but also the existence itself of his company.

ATEP Legal & Tax SA assists you in this challenge with professionalism and a lot of tact and impartiality, qualities acquired through years of experience in this field.

Thus, we assist you in all phases of the transmission of your business:

• preparation of the company for sale in order to ensure a transmission in optimal conditions
• examination of the matrimonial and inheritance issues and draft of the necessary contracts and wills
• examination of the pension fund issues
• company valuation
• search for buyers
• handling of the tax and financial issues linked to the transfere

Planning an inheritance is a complicated process that requires a meticulous examination of the situation.

Thanks to its multidisciplinary specializations notably in family law, matrimonial law, inheritance law, pension fund provision and corporate law, ATEP guides you in the many phases of this planning and in the implementation of personalized solutions aimed at the future.

ATEP Legal & Tax SA assists you notably in the following areas:

• draft of marriage, registered partners and cohabitation contracts
• draft of provisions for cause of death (testaments and inheritance contracts)
• executorship (follow-up and implementation of your last wills)
• draft of Advance Directives in view of the event of a loss of decision-making capacity
• draft of a Patient Decree to regulate medical treatment in the final stage of an illness or following a serious accident

Our assistance includes negotiating, drafting and executing all types of contracts, whether Swiss or international, notably:

• Purchase and sale Agreement of shares and other assets
• General terms and conditions of sales
• Loan agreement
• Brokerage contract
• Lease and leasing contracts
• Employment agreements
• Distribution and licenses contracts
• Confidentiality agreements
• Mandates, commission and agency contracts
• Enterprise contracts

ATEP Legal & Tax SA provides advice and support to the companies and their human resources managers in all aspects of labor law and Swiss social security, as well for executive mobility, salary policy, collective bargaining and obtaining residence and work permits.

We advise you therefore notably in the following fields:

• all issues and disputes related to the Labor Law;
• draft of letters of termination and of warnings;
• draft and review of Employment Agreements;
• draft of the intermediary and final work certificates;
• draft and review of all the company’s regulations;
• support in the event of mass lays-off procedures and negotiations with the workers representatives;;
• draft of regulations on the reimbursement of expenses and representation expenses, negotiation with the tax authority;
• implementation of stock option plans and other incentives plans for employees, as well as implementation of processes for the fixing and evaluation of objectives;
• support in the mobility of executives (expatriation, work in various locations in Switzerland and abroad).

ATEP Legal & Tax SA assists you in the acquisition and renewal of residence and work permit in Switzerland and in the various Swiss cantons.

We also advise and assist you in the preparation and the follow-up of all the documents and steps required for obtaining the Swiss nationality.

ATEP Legal & Tax SA helps businesses facing financial difficulties to identify the causes and to proceed to remediation of their situation (negotiation with creditors, restructuring, capital reduction, and subordination of claims as well as composition moratorium).

We support and advise you in all the steps of debt collection, namely in the debt collection, seizure, composition moratorium and bankruptcy proceedings.

We also draft legal documents such as subordination of claims agreements, assignment of receivables and debts assumptions.

We are also experts for planning instruments such as Trusts and Foundations.

ATEP Legal & Tax SA counsels you in negotiating and drafting property agreements (sale and preliminary sale agreements, mortgages, co-ownership), in all aspects of rental law, as well as in the purchase of real property by foreigners in Switzerland.

ATEP Legal & Tax SA assists you in the drafting of license agreements as well as in the preparation of your file and registration process in order to protect your trademark in Switzerland and abroad.