Setting up a company is the easy part. Setting it up so it survives the next round of growth, audit, transaction or transition is the work. We advise founders, family groups and corporates on the structure properly, before the wrong choices set into the share register.
When clients come to us
When a Turkish or UK group needs to establish an Estonian holding entity and wants the structure right from the outset. When a founder is preparing for external capital and the current structure is not investment-ready. When a family is planning a generational transition and the existing companies do not support the intended succession. Often when a board is rationalising a group of legacy entities.
How we work
A senior partner reviews the strategic intent, the existing entities and the cross-border activity, then proposes a structure that fits — entity choice, ownership chain, intercompany agreements, residency considerations. We coordinate with the firm's lawyers and tax advisors on execution rather than substituting for them, and we document the structure for the board record.
What we deliver
- Group structure recommendation with rationale
- Entity choice and incorporation roadmap
- Intercompany agreement framework
- Substance and residency considerations
- Transition plan from existing structure
- Board record documentation
Typical engagement
Structuring work runs four to ten weeks for design, with execution ongoing through the firm's legal advisors. On our side, a senior partner leads with one supporting director. On the client side, the CEO and CFO are the principal counterparts, with the board involved at sign-off and the firm's lawyers and tax advisors coordinated in.
Why CGLA
We sit physically across the EE / UK / TR triangle, which is where most of our clients' structuring questions are decided. The senior partner who scopes the structure is the one who stays in the room with the lawyers. We are not a law firm or tax practice — the role is corporate advisory.
